The Siren's Song
by Enjorous
Summary: Isabella Swan arrives in Forks with a secret so powerful that it threatens all those around her mortal and immortal alike. A bit A/U and OOC but hopefully not much and it is an A/B fic.
1. The Storm Rolls In

**I don't own anything in this (but I'm sure you all knew this.) And if your own personal muse descends on you please review. If it doesn't than just read and enjoy.

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The Storm Rolls In

The grey cloud cover that was only found in the Olympic peninsula was a shade darker than it normally was on an ordinary fall day. A storm was coming, something fiercer than the constant drizzle that the inhabitants of the peninsula expect on a day to day basis. Off the coast, flashes of lightning streaked across the deep purple clouds; and concussions of thunder rolled with the waves off the ocean.

For most of the inhabitants it was nothing but a signal to pull out a heavier coat, and maybe an umbrella. For some other residents it was a good excuse to stay inside on a quiet Saturday afternoon. But for one particular inhabitant it meant something else all together.

It was the end.

And it was the beginning.

But more than anything, it was frightening.

In a few short hours a person, a girl, but not an ordinary human would be coming. And with her everything would change; not necessarily for the better. But like so many storms that rumble through a person's life this one contained a silver lining.

The small girl whose thoughts were focused more on a girl she'd never met and less on the approaching storm leapt from the tree on which she'd been perched for more than an hour, landing with a grace seldom seen outside of the ballet. Scanning the empty forest around her she walked in a lazy gait towards an imposing manor hewn from the forest.

"It's going to be a horrible storm." She announced in a low sullen voice as she shut the door behind her. Lately she hadn't trusted herself to talk about anything besides the most superficial topics around her family. Now it was the weather, she couldn't even trust herself with music, movies, and current events. Nope, just the weather, that made things simpler.

A taller man with immaculate blond hair rounded a corner to the entry way with a questioning smile on his lips "Does that mean that your visions…"

He was cut off when the short raven haired girl shook her head solemnly "I still only see her." She replied simply with another shake of her head. "I don't get it Carlisle. Two solid months and the only visions I ever seem to have anymore are of her. I can tell you her eye, hair, and skin color. I can tell you that she might be the clumsiest person in the world. Hell, I can tell you when her _time of the month_ is."

"And she is human, as far as you can tell." Carlisle asked placing a reassuring hand on the shorter girls shoulder.

There was no response.

"Alice, is she human?" Carlisle's voice had a firm edge to it, but he was by no means angry with his daughter. He looked into the Alice's eyes; they were shallow, glassy, motionless, and instantly he knew she was having another vision.

A few seconds passed like hours before she blinked her eyes and shrugged off what she'd just seen. "No," she said in a detached voice, "She's a siren."

Carlisle recoiled internally without ever showing it. "You're sure?" He asked running a hand slowly through his hair. This information was not good news for anyone; a siren running around Forks could easily disrupt the delicate peace agreement that was in place. If it still beat, Carlisle's heart would have started racing; and if his adrenals still worked, his body would have been flooded by all the adrenaline his body could produce and then some.

"I'm positive." Alice squeaked, shifting her eyes to the ground. There were parts of that last vision that she needed to keep to herself. It was something she couldn't tell anyone, not yet. It didn't even make sense to her, not a lot at least. There were feelings that she couldn't explain, images without context, and thoughts that made no sense.

In other words: she was screwed. She didn't know why she was only having visions of this mystery girl, neither did Carlisle. But they've gotten longer, and more detailed, as the days and weeks passed. The last one had been the shortest one of her in almost three and a half weeks. It was also the simplest, by far. The mystery girl, whose name was one of the few things Alice didn't know, walked carefully through a crowded terminal with one bag in tow behind her and a second smaller one hanging from her shoulder.

She was coming, and judging by the dark clouds and the torrent of rain beating the large plate glass windows it was going to be very soon.

"She'll be here before the storm lifts." Alice said making her way quickly out of the room. She padded up the stairs as quickly as her inhuman speed would allow.

Not knowing just how soon her vision would come to pass.

~~**~~**~~**~~

"Delta Airlines flight one-twenty-two service to Atlanta now boarding first class at gate twelve. Flight twelve boarding first class." The PA system blared through the Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, barely audible above the thousands of people milling through the domestic arrivals gate.

In the hordes of people absorbed in their own little worlds; no one in the entire airport noticed an average teenager, with an average duffle bag, and wearing average clothes. And yet everyone knew that something was not quite right around them. Nothing that wouldn't be attributed to pre-flight jitters, homesickness, excitement over a vacation, let down of coming home from on, or the dread of yet another business trip. Everyone felt it, but no one cared.

All except for the one average girl that no one gave a second look to. She recognized what it was, because it was a part of her, some hidden power that she didn't even began to comprehend. Her shoulders were hunched as maneuvered her way through the crowds of angry passengers. A sudden storm had come up throughout the western part of Washington, delaying or canceling most flights. Only a handful of flights, like Delta one-twenty-two, were able to get take off clearance; and that was only if they were able to take off in the next few minutes.

The PA system blared again as the average girl made her way to the baggage carousel. "The white zone is for immediate loading and unloading of passengers only, there is no stopping in the red zone."

"Of course, what else would the white zone be for?" The girl grumbled as she readjusted her duffle on her aching shoulders. After the five hour flight from Phoenix with a layover in San Francisco Bella Swan was irritable.

She had to traverse most of the baggage claim before finding the giant scrolling LED sign that read "Southwest Flight 833 PHX to SEA." She gave a heavy sigh and saddled up to the rest of the passengers who were eagerly awaiting their luggage.

One by one, the other passengers of flight eight-thirty-three picked their bags off of the giant revolving carousel.

Except for Bella, hers was the last bag to come around the carousel. A simple black rolling suitcase with three bright orange zip-ties to flag it as it came around. Breathing a sigh of relief that her only suitcase hadn't been lost by the Airline, she hefted it on to the white linoleum floor, and pulled out the telescoping handle.

She started following the signs to the main exit where her ride was waiting for her. _I suppose he's more than my ride._ She mused moving wearily through the throngs of people trying to book hotel room for the night. Every experienced traveler knows when an airport is going to get shut down due to weather, and the purple and black clouds coming in was about as close to a bright neon sign as nature gave.

Bella exited the terminal while the PA boomed behind her "The National Weather Service has issued a severe storm warning for the Seattle area through ten A.M. October twelfth. As a result the FAA has grounded all flights out of Seattle Area airports and has rerouted all incoming traffic to Spokane International. We apologize for the inconvenience."

"Looks like I got lucky for a change." She mumbled sarcastically stepping into the frigid wind and the cold rain. Lucky is a relative term.

She grabbed the light windbreaker out of her carry-on bag, instantly wishing that she had something heavier within easy reach. Setting her carry-on down on the wheeled suitcase, Bella shrugged on the light coat shivering as she looked around the loading zone.

Charlie had to be around her somewhere, she knew it. He was after all her father, and that means that nothing is more important than his baby girl, right?

He wasn't holding a sign, or waving like an idiot, or running up to great her; instead he causally walked up the sidewalk through the few stragglers who remained outside in the increasing rain waiting for their rides or one of the few cabs still around.

"Bella!" He called when he was a few yards away. "I heard the announcement and thought your flight didn't land." Not normally an excitable person, Charlie couldn't help but feel a bit overwhelmed when he saw his only daughter for the first time in what felt like a century.

"Hey, Ch…dad," Bella responded keeping herself from calling her dad by his first name at the last second. "Turns out I'm allowed one lucky break in my life." Charlie's enthusiasm was turning out to be quite contagious.

Neither father nor daughter were completely in touch with their emotions, and weren't overly open in their affections. A quick around the shoulder hug was all the duo could manage. The mood around them tensed up immediately, completely full of awkward silence. They both looked around, not knowing what the right thing to stay at a time was. Bella chewed a little on her bottom lip, noticing how little her father had changed in the years since she had last seen him. His black hair was beginning to grey around the temples and there were a few

"So…umm…Where's the car?" Bella stuttered tucking a strand of chestnut hair behind her ear.

"Oh…ya, it's right over there." Charlie gestured to a very vague place in the nearest parking lot. "Here, let me take those." Charlie said reaching for his daughter's wheeled suit.

"Oh, thanks but I got it." She said taking up her luggage again, suitcase in one hand and her overnight bag around her still aching shoulder.

The walk to the car was less awkward then the moments in front of the large automatic glass doors. The rain was extremely cold but nowhere near cold enough to turn into slush anytime before the early morning.

"Here, I'll put those in the back." Charlie said, popping the trunk of the Crown Victoria. "You get in and try and get warm." While he may not be father of the year material, but he certainly knew what to do when someone was freezing.

"Th-th-thanks," she managed through chattering teeth. The now soaked brunette managed to work the door handle and slid into the dry, but still cold police cruiser. A few moments later Charlie joined her, his heavy police overcoat now drenched from the heavy rainfall.

"It's a long ride to Forks, just to warn you." Charlie said, starting the engine and pulling out of the parking lot. Bella settled into the bucket seat, shifting uncomfortable as the pain in her shoulders got worse.

_Not to self, grab some Tylenol. _Bella thought as she closed her eyes trying to make the drive bearable. _If Forks has a decent doctor in town I think I'll make an appointment_.

~~**~~**~~**~~

"Does she know she's a siren?" Carlisle calmly asked, looking at his adopted daughter as he continued drumming his fingers lightly against the arm of his chair.

"I don't think so, but she is well aware that she's not normal." The raven haired pixie responded. She came up to her room with the very clear intentions of being alone to sort through the confusing visions she'd been hiding from everyone.

Carlisle had other ideas. As much as he wanted to respect his daughter's obvious desire to be alone and under normal circumstances he would. Too bad this wasn't a normal circumstance. A siren was one of the things that weren't supposed to exist out of mythology and lore. "You have to tell me all that you've seen. Everything, no matter how small." He demanded in a voice so calm and even that it came across more as a plea.

Alice knew better, she didn't have a choice. She would tell him all she knew, just not all she felt. At the same time what she felt could be more important than what she knew, but her confusion and embarrassment that came with the visions she'd experienced told her to keep them to herself.

She inhaled deeply, thankful that her body no longer betrayed her emotions, "I've seen a lot and most of it was everyday stuff: eating breakfast, sitting in class, brushing her hair…"

_Watching her shower_, her thought interrupted her but only for a fraction of a second; but at that instant she was grateful that her telepathic 'brother' was out hunting.

"I get a lot of her sleeping too." Alice continued pushing her mental slip up to the very back of her mind.

"And how do you know she's a siren?" Carlisle asked again completely motionless in the door frame.

"I don't know," The pixie responded, closing her eyes, "I see the way people respond to her, guys mainly, and there's this sort of magnetism about her."

"And how does she look?" He pressed, finally getting some decent information from the spiky haired girl in front of him.

_Incredibly beautiful, _was Alice's first thought, "Average," was the only word she trusted herself to say out loud without betraying the maelstrom of emotions that surged through every fiber of her stiff body.

She went rigid again, another vision unfolded just beyond the glassy liquid topaz eyes. Carlisle took immediate notice, concerned over what his daughter was seeing beyond those hazy eyes.

"She's here."


	2. Siren's First Night

A/N: I probably would have posted this chapter sooner but I had to go out of town to help some family move and lost a couple of writing days. But I got plenty of things outlined so I consider it a success. Anyway if your muse descends please drop me a review; if not, please enjoy.

Siren's First Night

The storm continued into the early evening; the rain pounded off the roof of Charlie's police cruiser in an irregular cadence, broken only by the occasional silent burst of lightning and the immediate booming bass of thunder. It wasn't possible for the naked eye to tell whether the sun was hidden behind the wall of foreboding black clouds, or whether it had finally sunk behind the horizon. To the two people tucked inside the cramped Crown Victoria it truly made no difference.

The entire ride had been comprised of mostly stony silence that settled around them at the airport with the sporadic question from Charlie, the basic pleasantries; nothing more and nothing less. The three and a half hour drive from SeaTac airport caused Bella's restless legs to twitch and fidget as the sign for Forks came into view.

Another fifteen minutes passed before Charlie was able to guide the cruiser silently off the paved road and onto the dirt driveway in front of his house. _Well it's Bella's now too, _he mused as he cut the engine, parking the Ford as close to the house as he could.

"Here's the house key," Charlie said handing his key ring to Bella, "Open the door; I'll bring your bags in."

The overly tired brunette sighed "Thanks dad, but you don't have too; I'll just get them later." She didn't have much, and most of what she did, was useless. Living in Arizona for several years, one tends to have a wardrobe consisting of short sleeve t-shirts and shorts. Not the kind of clothes you get to wear when it's forty-five degrees and storming. Fortunately she did have the light windbreaker she had on, another heavier coat, and some winterish clothes.

"Alright," Charlie said, obviously not wanting to be out in the storm any longer than he absolutely had to. He snapped his arm back, lightly tossing his keys from his right hand to his left.

Bella was the first to crack her door open, the wind took it the rest of the way. The door opened wide changing the sound of the ran from a hollow thud to a softer more relaxing patter as it dripped down through the trees and landed on the dying foliage below. The slim brunette stepped out into the dark night, pulling her windbreaker closer around her.

She sprinted toward the door slipping twice in the mud around the cruiser, ruining one of the few pairs of jeans she had. Cursing silently under her breath she wiped as much mud off of her as she could and made her way towards the porch as a much slower speed. In her distracted state she missed two golden orbs watching the scene unfold like an owl.

She reached the open front door dripping wet from head to her mud covered shoes. "Ch…Dad," she called as she shut the door and locked the deadbolt, catching herself a moment sooner than she had at the airport. "I'm gonna go take a shower."

"Alright, Bells; there are some towels under the sink, and some soap and shampoo in the shower." Charlie called from the kitchen not bothering to pop his head in the entryway.

Bella trudged up the stairs, knees hurting from the first of many falls here in Forks. She managed up the stairs without hurting herself again, and somehow remembered where the bathroom was.

The door creaked open as she silently continued her trudge to the shower. She casually flicked the bathroom light on, like she'd never left. The shower came next Bella adjusted the water and waited for the ancient hot water heater to begin pumping out something other than cold water. She slowly peeled the now soaking clothes away from her form, still shivering. By the time she undressed the shower still wasn't warm; wrapping her arms around her waist for warmth, she padded over to the small bathroom mirror that doubled as a medicine cabinet. She turned her attention to the small cabinet under the sink and grabbed a simple white terrycloth towel; setting it on the sink she brought her hand up to the mirror.

She slowly slid her fingers around the edge of the cabinet looking for the right side to open it up. The pain in her shoulders had only increased from the airport, now instead of a dull ache there was a throbbing pain shooting throughout her upper back in perfect time with her heart beat.

The medicine cabinet popped off with a reassuring click, the aching girl quickly scanned through the cabinet, ignoring the shaving cream, razor, and band-aids. Her eyes finally found what she'd wanted, there was a non-descript bottle of pills on the top shelf. Wrapping one hand around the bottle her other hand found the tap and turned the cold water on low. She popped the top of the bottle off using both hands before tapping two clay red pills into the palm of her hand.

Bella tossed the two pills under her tongue before using her hand as a make shift cup she swallowed the pills before climbing into the shower. The hot water instantly took the chill out of her bones, but did nothing to relieve the soreness or the pain in her shoulders. _That's what the Ibuprofen is for_, she thought as she began lathering her hair with a shampoo that smelt a little too feminine to belong to Charlie.

A strange urge came over her, something that she never remembered doing before.

She started to sing. No song in particular, just a tune that seemed to be running through her head lately.

Thirty minutes later Bella pulled aside the shower curtain, grabbing the towel from the edge of the sink and quickly dried herself off, before the cold night could freeze her again.

"I hate the cold." She muttered as she toweled her hair dry, before wrapping the towel around her.

It wasn't until that point that she realized that she had no clothes to change into, and while she did in fact love her dad, she had no desire to walk around the house wearing nothing but a towel.

She turned the simple brass knob of the bathroom door, poking her head out.

The coast was clear; downstairs she heard the drone of some game and Charlie's muffled sighs of contempt. She crossed her fingers hoping that he would once again play the dad card and bring her luggage in anyway. On tiptoes she crossed the small space between the bathroom and what would now be her room.

She groped along the wall searching for the light switch before she managed to trip over air and kill herself.

"Damn it." She cursed as she stubbed her toe at the exact same moment she found the switch. Bella gave it an angry flick, looking at the offending item.

It was her black wheeled suitcase, and her small carry-on bag set precariously on top. A split second later the carry-on managed to fall from its perch and find the stubbed toe of the barely clad brunette.

"Oh for God's sake," she cursed again throwing the small grey bag on to the double bed in the center of the room. Then a glint of recognition crossed her nearly dry face; she had clothes! Not just the mud and rain covered outfit that still occupied the corner of the cramped bathroom.

In a small fit of excitement Bella shut the door, no longer caring about being quiet; Charlie was more glued to whatever game he was watching than the door of the room above him. The still dripping brunette all but threw the suitcase on the floor and unzipped it in an almost feverish excitement.

A smile crept across her face as she laid eyes upon dry clean clothes. Sometimes simple things are the greatest. After slipping into a ratty old white t-shirt and a pair of plaid pajama bottoms, she began the undesirable task of unpacking. There was a low dresser in one corner of the room where most of her t-shirts would be entombed, while her meager collection of cold weather clothes occupied hangers in the closet. By the time she finished all of her unpacking the small digital clock on her new nightstand read "7:48" not nearly late enough to call it a night and go to bed. Not that she could, even if she wanted to, the aching in her shoulders hadn't lessened any since she popped the ibuprofen.

Pain, sickness, and injury are the three things that will make any kid, no matter how old, seek the comforting presence of their parents (no matter how distant they seem.) Why should Bella be any different? She closed the closet door, where she just stuffed her suitcase, and headed for the stairs.

The pain in Bella's shoulders only increased the faster her heart beat, she slowed down hoping that that would solve her problems. It helped, but not as much as she would have liked. Lucky for her the house wasn't all that large, and it was only a few more steps from the base of the stairs to the small couch in the living room.

"Hope you didn't mind that I brought in your luggage." Charlie acknowledged from his worn recliner without turning his attention away from the football game that occupied the television.

"Ya, I mean: no. Thanks dad." Bella stuttered laying down on the couch opposite Charlie's recliner. She tried settling in to a comfortable position, but found it hard with the giant knots forming at the base of her shoulders.

"Dad," she said after ten minutes.

"What is it, Bells?" Her dad said turning his face to his daughter, but keeping his eyes glued to the game.

"Is there a decent doctor in town?" She all but whined, shifting her position again to try and find some comfort.

"Why, are you not feeling well?" He questioned, ungluing his eyes from the game and focusing solely on his daughter.

"I'm not sick or anything, but my shoulders have been hurting all day." His daughter said, rolling onto her stomach.

"Oh, ya," Charlie turned his eyes back to the game and started speaking again, "There's Dr. Cullen, pretty nice guy, and a damn good doctor. I'll call and make you an appointment first thing in the morning, if you want."

Bella was taken aback by Charlie's new attitude, but she attributed it to her arrival after such a long absence. "Err, thanks dad, but you don't have to. I can do it myself." Bella said, blushing slightly.

"Okay," Charlie said, still watching the game he fished an overstuffed wallet out his back pocket and produced a small white business card from it and passed it to his prone daughter. "Here's his card, the phone number's on the back."

Bella reached out and took the card out of her dad's calloused hands and turned it over a few times. It was completely unremarkable it simply read "Carlisle Cullen, M.D." on the top and just below it read "Doctor of Emergency Medicine, Clallam County Hospital, Forks WA." On the back was a hand written phone number in perfect handwriting, below the number was a list of times he would be in the hospital's clinic.

Bella yawned slightly and pushed herself off the couch, card in hand, "Thanks, dad," she said in the same tired monotone she'd been speaking in since she got off the plane. Giving Charlie a quick shoulder, she started a slow methodical trudge back up the stairs.

She soon made her way back to her dark room. The frigid rain continued to pour outside and pound against the single paned window in a harsh tinny sound. No light entered in from the window, and only a sliver came in through the door, from the TV in the living room; the only other source of faint light came from the small alarm clock, which continued to taunt her. "8:15" it read; not even a full half hour had passed.

Tired from a five hour flight and another three hour drive, and now completely exhausted from the ever increasing pain radiating from her shoulder blades; Bella decided to attempt sleep. Setting Dr. Cullen's card on the night stand she pulled the thick comforter and the top sheet aside and climbed in bed, pulling the covers over her head.

Surprisingly she was asleep in minutes.

The rain continued well into the early morning, providing the sleeping girl with a peculiar pace to her new dreams. One in particular ripped through her mind.

_The wind swirled around the top of the deep green sea of trees below me. It was like I was standing on top of the cloud blanket that I remember from my early life her. Up here the world seemed something entirely different; the heaviness of gravity didn't seem to exist up here. I was weightless, floating through the clouds; carried by the wind._

_I wasn't floating at all._

_I was flying: diving down towards the trees, pulling up towards the sun, twisting into the clouds and falling out of them._

_And more than that, I wasn't the clumsy girl I had been on the ground, I was graceful, every move I made was full of poise. Even as I descended through the tops of the trees, it was almost effortless on my part to avoid the massive trunks and branches as I descended finally to the deep brown dirt._

_My feet touched ground and all the grace I just had in the air evaporated and I was back to the klutzy old Bella._

A burning sensation racked through her again.

Bella snapped her eyes open and blinked a few times into the pitch darkness searching for any source of light. Her eyes immediately shifted to the eerie red numbers of that cursed alarm clock it continued to mock her. "5:30" it mocked.

_Too early to wake up,_ Bella thought as she rolled over to turn her back on the wretched clock. She squeezed her eyes shut hoping to sleep again. Ten minutes later, she gave up. "Early to bed, early to rise; or some crap like that." She grumbled throwing the comforter off. The nightly chill began to eat straight away.

She flicked the bedroom light on; making sure her door was closed. No need to wake Charlie up an hour before the sun even thought about coming up. She busied herself trying to better organize her little dresser. Last night she just tried to get all of her clothes unpacked and shoved into drawers.

That only took fifteen minutes to refold and repack everything in the dresser. Something about the pouring rain made time move slower than it ever did in Arizona. Bella grumbled again and stood up, putting one hand on the dresser for support.

Her shoulders weren't hurting anymore. Something about the semi-restful night's sleep must have relaxed her shoulder blades enough. Bella stretched her arms again, hoping that it wasn't a fluke that she was no longer cringing with every heart beat.

With nothing better to do, Bella decided to get dressed. Her heart sank a little at the thought of having to start at a new school. Starting at any new school was bad enough, without it being in a town as small as this. She was probably the biggest thing to happen all year at Forks High School, and she didn't want to be the center of attention.

Terrible images of full page spreads in the year book and front page headlines in the school paper tore through her mind and a shiver rippled down her spine imagining all the looks she'd get pulling into the parking lot in Charlie's cruiser.

At least she'd be getting out of the front and not the back. She wouldn't be able to live having to get out of the back of a police car at school. A fresh shiver went down her spine, with that image.

_Well, _she mused staring at her closet; _better try and look decent for my first day in hell._ Decent, to her, meant a simple pair of dark blue jeans and a long sleeved semi-tight black t-shirt. She also grabbed her one and only heavy coat, a black and white ski coat that her mom insisted on before she left Phoenix. She tossed the shirt and pajama bottoms in her closet and shut the door again.

She grabbed a brush off her nightstand and started untangling her rat's nest of hair. It's what she got for going to bed with wet hair, a procedure that she didn't want to repeat any time soon. By the time she dressed, managed to take all the knots out of her hair, and slip on a pair of dark brown athletic shoes it was close to six thirty.

That was late enough to go downstairs; she'd heard Charlie milling around for at least fifteen minutes. She turned the knob to her door; heading for the stairs, she was still stretching her shoulders out waiting for the pain to return.

It still hadn't by the time she reached the cramped kitchen; she was grateful, but still intended to make an appointment with Dr. Cullen. Charlie, busy eating a bowl of cereal, looked up when his baby girl walked in the room.

"You were up early. Sleep alright?" He asked turning his attention back to his bowl of Cheerios.

"Ya, pretty well," Bella replied grabbing a bowl of her own from the cupboard. She took a seat opposite from her dad and poured a bowl. "Tired from the flight I guess"

"Thought I would ask, you were screaming all night." He said like he was discussing the weather.

"Oh, I was…" Bella said in a low voice, dropping the conversation, before pouring milk into her bowl. She turned her attention to the cereal in front of her and hurried to eat it before it went soggy. Charlie didn't press the line of questioning any further, leaving Bella to wonder what kind of interrogator he was; not that there could many people to interrogate in Forks.

It only took Bella ten minutes to finish her cereal, less time than it took her dad to finish the newspaper and his own bowl of cereal. "Ch…Dad," Bella said, breaking the silence: "would you, umm, mind taking me early…to school?"

"Oh, I almost forgot." Charlie said abruptly getting up from the table. "I have a welcome home present for you." Without another word he rose, grabbed a small key ring of a peg on the wall, and tossed it to the table.

The only two keys on the ring were a house key and a key Bella didn't recognize. "Um…thanks dad." She replied not knowing what to say to a present she clearly wasn't seeing.

"The rest is in the driveway, it's not pretty, but it runs." He said, pulling his coat on. "The schools down the road and to the left, you can't miss it." He went out the back door leaving the mystery to Bella.

The girl sat there stunned, her father had just given her a car as nonchalantly as was humanly possible. A trickle of excitement began running through her head, just behind her eyes. Not wanting to get a head of herself, she got up from the table, and headed for the stairs. Leaving her bowl, half full of milk, on the table she headed for the stairs to brush her teeth as quickly as she could.

She made it, tripping over the stairs only once and catching herself before her face ended up in the wooden stairs. Rushing into the bathroom she grabbed a new purple toothbrush from the medicine cabinet and some toothpaste by the sink, and started brushing like her life depended on it. She brushed hard and fast before rinsing her mouth, and the toothbrush, placing the latter back in the cabinet.

She headed out of the bathroom but stopped when she saw her wet clothes still in a pile next to the shower. She sighed as she picked them up, careful not to get any mud on her clean clothes. She hurried back to her room and pulled her closet door to the side.

A second later, the wet clothes hit the ground with a squish.

Bella's jaw dropped when she saw the shirt she slept in. Running down the back were two long dark red streaks. _Blood_, she thought suddenly losing interest in the car waiting for her down stairs. In a mental haze Bella grabbed the card off the nightstand and made her way back to the telephone in the kitchen.

She punched in the phone number on the back of the card and waited.

Someone picked up on the third ring. "Hello," the voice was completely calm, despite the early hour.

"Dr. Cullen." Bella said in a shaky voice, "I need to make an appointment, I'm Chief Swan's daughter, Bella."


	3. School: Waiting, Watching

**Author's Note: This chapter doesn't contain as much plot, character development, and supernatural events as I would like. That being said I wouldn't discount the entire chapter because there are plenty of those things in there.**

School: Waiting, Watching

Bella's thoughts were jumbled when she brought the behemoth to life. The most superficial were of the Truck; it was old, slightly rusty, and had a manual transmission. Basically it was everything a teenage girl _didn't _want in a vehicle. But not Bella, she loved it. _It has character_, she mused when she first saw the old red Chevy sitting in the makeshift driveway.

The only thing she didn't love about her new truck was the smell. It was thick with what smelled like rotten pine, wet dirt, and stale smoke; leaving the new owner to wonder if the truck had been in a fire.

But the thoughts of the truck were pushed out of her mind as soon as she pulled the monster onto the road, suddenly grateful that her mom had insisted that she learn to drive a stick because "You never know when you'll need to" Renee's voice echoed through her mind.

Underneath the thoughts of the truck lurked some slightly darker ones: mainly, school. The first day jitters she felt in Phoenix were nothing compared to the butterflies that flapped their collective wings in the pit of her stomach. The full page spreads, and front page stories shot through her mind for a brief instant and faded again; replacing it, a school full of students ogling her as she pulled in driving a rusted red Chevy.

At the gut level was sheer panic. Her shoulders had been in intense pain the night before, and when she woke up the pain was gone and there were two parallel streaks of blood running down where her shoulder blades would have rested. Images out of Alien and any number of other horror movies involving creatures bursting out of their human hosts started working their way through her head. The only respite from the horror that her mind actively created was a small slip of paper carefully folded and hiding in her coat pocket. A doctor's appointment right after school would ease her fears of some monster growing inside her back.

Once she was safely in fourth gear, she reached behind her, underneath her coat, gingerly feeling around her shoulders for anything out of the ordinary, but of course there wasn't. "That stuff's only in the movies." The girl whispered to herself, desperately trying to reassure frazzled mind.

Ten aggravatingly long minutes later she pulled into the rough asphalt and gravel parking lot, This_ must be Forks High,_ Bella thought, coasting her welcome home present into the space closest to the school; first in, first out that was her mantra for today. The school looked like it had been run down and renovated many times over the years. Right now it looked like a series of small brick faced buildings that contained a few classrooms in them and as. It was a dull and depressing school, and it would be hers for another two years.

It was still early enough that the few cars that were in the parking lot were too new to belong to students; it also didn't hurt that the small concrete curbs read "Staff" in big bright yellow letters.

Shifting the rusty truck into neutral, she cut the engine and grabbed her black backpack from the seat next to her. Bella threw her full weight against the door to get it to force the rusty hinges to work again. The rain continued to patter against the concrete and asphalt as she began her brief walk from the old parking lot to the seemingly ancient school buildings; her mind was still a jumbled maze of twisting and convoluted thoughts.

She did a quick sweep of the part of the high school she could see from parking lot, before deciding that she should get out of the parking lot before some idiot decided to run over the new girl. Noticing the flagpole out of the corner of her eye she and putting two and two together she figured that would be the most logical place to look for the front office, after all that's where the office is in ninety percent of schools.

The office was; thankfully, open when she made it through the parking lot at the fastest speed she trusted her legs to do in the rain and the unfamiliar and even more uneven terrain. All of which, amounted to nothing faster than a crawl. Soaking wet, despite the heavy ski jacket, Bella pulled door simple metal shelled door open and slipped out of the rain.

Fighting the urge to ring her hair out on the spot, she decided instead to go straight to the front desk and the frumpy looking receptionist who sat there, doing the daily Word Jumble. Not wanting to make the first move, the dripping brunette took up position on the counter and absently drummed her fingers on the wood veneer. The pale receptionist looked up from the newspaper, adjusting the glasses higher up on her nose. "Stars and stones!" She exclaimed, in a voice that Bella thought sounded like something out of Fargo, "You must be Chief Swan's daughter Isabella."

"Uh, actually, it's just Bella." She muttered looking away from the overly eager receptionist.

"Of course, of course, Bella," The older woman said, shuffling some papers around on the desk in front of her. After a few seconds she found the small stack of paper she'd been looking for. "Here you go, that's your new schedule, a map of the campus, and the student handbook. You can pick up your textbooks in the library, it's right here" She pointed to a small building right next to the office.

"Thanks, I'll go get those." Bella mumbled heading out of the office. Amazed at how much the rain can let up in just few short minutes; she went right out the door, checking the map once to make sure she was going to right way to the library.

The library was another in a string of unimpressive buildings. What passed for a library here probably had all of five decent books in it.

Five turned out to be a gross exaggeration; the library was somehow smaller than the office and had a series of five foot tall shelves all along three walls with a few ancient computers and a dozen or so small tables with only four chairs at each. Along the fourth wall was a dinosaur of a Xerox machine some racks of newspapers and a librarians desk.

"Something I can help you with?" A man in his mid fifties asked curtly, pushing a small cart of paper backs down one row.

"Ya, I'm new here." Bella said fishing her schedule out of the paper clipped bundle, "I need to pick up my books."

"Alright, give me a minute." He clipped still shelving the books from the cart. He grumbled something too quietly for Bella to her, but she was sure it wasn't polite.

Bella, set her schedule and backpack on one of the tables in the center of the library, and started to hum slightly trying not to let the frustration and the worry combine into anger.

Shelving the last book on the cart, the irritable librarian stood up and walked over to Bella, with a small content smile lightening his harsh features. "Let me see you schedule…" He said looking to the girl in front of him to finish his sentence.

"Bella," she replied offering him her rain dampened schedule.

He took it, walking into a small room behind the desk on the far wall. Bella moved her bag to the desk and continued her near silent humming, trying to calm herself. A few moments later he came back with five text books, two of which were still in the original shrink wrap. "Well seeing as you're new here, I figured you needed new books; or at least what passes for new around her." He said with a huge smile.

"Thanks," Bella said, quickly grabbing the books from the suddenly creepy librarian.

_A minute ago he wanted to bit my head off,_ the weary girl thought as she slid the stack of books, one at a time, into her already wet back pack, _now he's acting like some sleazy pervert._ Stopping her slight humming, she hurried out of the library as quickly as she could. By the time the librarian, who's name she was sure not to ask, was back to his shelving he was using words to refer to her that were seldom heard off of naval vessels. _Must be bipolar._

With her heavy jacket on and her back pack slung over her shoulder, Bella began to blend into the background. Just the way she wanted it to be. Hanging out under the small eve just outside the library's door she pulled out her class schedule, and the school map. She soon memorized every room she had class in and the cafeteria, there would be no awkward first day involving her stumbling around blind having to ask about every little detail of the school.

When she finished, some five or six minutes later; the parking lot of the school began to fill with old beaters, junkers and POS's; in simpler terms: students were beginning to show up. Soon a small throng of students milled around Bella's rust red truck whispering rumors of who owned it. Names of carless students were thrown about

Only a one student knew the identity of the owner and where she was currently hiding, and she was doing a bit of hiding herself. Not from the rest of the students, not from the teachers, but from her family. Her visions still hadn't entirely returned to her, they were still focused around the brunette standing not one hundred feet away wet hair and a heavy ski jacket.

_Why can't I stop watching her?_ Alice asked herself in sheer desperation. Since the raven haired vampire saw Bella's arrival in the small wet town Alice has been able to do nothing but watch her. True it's been less than a day, but for those thirteen hours, her eyes had been glued to Bella. Alice watched as she slipped in the mud, as she took a shower (which was something she'd seen in her mind before,) as she put her clothes away, as she cried and screamed all night. This latter even made the pixie's stone heart break.

It seemed in the last two months Alice had grown closer to the brunette than she had to any human in almost a century of undeath. Yes she had her family: people, technically vampires, that she loved and in return loved her. But Bella was different to her, she was new (and not in the same way she was new to the rest of the school.) Alice didn't need a vision to tell her that she would be friends with the new girl, whether her family approved or not. And knowing just how Carlisle responded to the fact that she was, or would soon become a siren, it was a pretty definitive or not.

But sitting in a tree away from everyone else, she was allowed to hope that all these fears would be for nothing. After all her family managed to live in peace with they're natural enemies, and walk among what the majority of their kind considered food. Why couldn't she manage a friendship with a siren, just because Bella's supposed to be another natural enemy of vampires _and _werewolves? For now, she had to avoid the taller girl, at least until this afternoon.

She'd only caught a few glimpses of Bella's appointment with Carlisle after school, but it didn't seem like there was anything to worry about. And there was always the phone in her back pocket if she saw something. For now she was allowed to spy on the other girl and learn what she could; because school would start soon and then she would lose her subject to classrooms and regular students.

Alice continued to keep her vigil until the first school bell rung, signaling the students below her to go to their first class of the day, and signaling Alice to leave her perch and try to get through the day as best she could. In a few short hours, hopefully sooner, she would know everything she would need to. Leaping from the tree branch and onto wet ground below the pixie took off towards the forest at blinding speed, leaving the new girl at her new school.

When the first bell rang Bella folded up her schedule, campus map, and student hand book, slipped it in her back pocket and headed for her first class: English, not bad, a little early maybe, but not terrible. She shifted her bag onto her shoulders, waiting for the pain to come shooting back, but it didn't, so she headed back out into the rain. Heading for English Bella started to feel the glares of the other students for the first time. _Well, there goes my chameleon strategy,_ She thought crossing through the quad.

A few of the students where giving her sidelong glances as they walked to their own classes, others were content to stand outside of their class and stare her way, but not one student came up to her. Bella suddenly realized what the animals at the zoo felt; she quickened her pace trying desperately to get to her first class, and even harder to not slip and fall right now in front of the new school full of people.

Fortunately she managed to do both, before the tardy bell rang. Out of breath and still soaked from the rain she squeezed into the only empty seat in the room. For the first time in what felt like an eternity she had a small stroke of good luck, the seat was in the back, the fact it was a corner seat was a bonus.

She took her seat and pulled out the large olive drab text book that she assumed was for English. _The Norton Reader,_ it proclaimed across the top, in a contrasting yellow color and bold letters. It was also one of the two books that were still in the original cellophane. Grumbling Bella dug her truck key into the plastic and tore it open. It was a painfully slow process, seemed like the plastic was doing everything possible to make her look like an idiot in a room full of people.

"Would you like some help with that," A meek voice said, that could have just as easily been a whisper.

Turning to look, the frustrated new girl found the owner of the voice. Even sitting it was very evident that she was probably close to six feet tall and even in one of the cloudiest places in the entirety of the world she had a naturally tan complexion, and even she looked pale.

A terminal condition form living where the sun rarely shines; Bella decided earlier as she looked into the parking lot.

Her hair was a rather limp and lifeless brown with lighter streaks running through it that were distinctly unnatural and gathered into a lose ponytail. At the base of her desk was a normal backpack and something that scared Bella more than anything else could today.

A camera bag.

"No, thanks I think I got it," The drying girl commented in a voice just as low with a slight edge of frustration added to it. Not a moment later the stubborn plastic wrap gave way, leaving both girls with an awkward smile on both their lips.

"Hi, I'm Angela," the tan girl introduced herself extending her right hand. A caring genuine smile replaced the awkward one, "You're Chief Swan's daughter right?"

Bella knew that the other girl already knew the answer already, but appreciated that she was asking instead of telling. "Ya, I'm Bella," She answered taking the taller girls hand; "And if that camera's for me, forget it."

Angela gave a short laugh and let go of the shorter brunettes hand before responding "Sorry, occupational hazard; I guess you can say. I'm on the yearbook committee and the school newspaper"

"Okay, just checking." Bella said, the edge dissipating from her voice. She took off her heavy sky coat and hooked it around the back of her chair. Soon after, the final bell rung and the teacher stood up from her shabby wooden desk.

"Alright," The teacher, a short stocky woman of maybe thirty-five, said collecting a stack of papers off the corner of the desk, "Last week I gave you all 'Marrakech' by George Orwell. Today you're getting Reflections on Gandhi I want you to do the same thing we did last week on this, except today you're getting it to write an essay. So read it, get into groups of two or three, and discuss it for ten-ish minutes."

The teacher, Hall if Bella remembered her schedule correctly, gave no special attention to her new student, which was a minor miracle in Bella's mind. Putting her text book away she gave a sideway's glance wondering if Angela already had a group, she was busy reading the Orwell piece making small notes in the margin. Bella took hers and read over it quickly, Angela seemed to be a nice enough person, and the only one to actually speak to her. In other words, she was the closest thing to a friend the new girl had.

The shorter girl made sure to seem like she finished the reading assignment at the same time Angela did. The ploy worked and Bella started discussing the author's choice of words and seemingly convoluted sentence structure for the required ten minutes.

The essay wasn't that hard, Bella had been forced to write this kind of essay all the way through her sophomore year. It was something to pass the period, even if she did finish ten minutes before the period ended. The bell rang and she bolted to the front of the room with her coat and backpack in one hand and her essay in the other

"Sorry to give you an essay on your first day," Mrs. Hall said taking the essay.

"It wasn't that bad," Bella said, faking a laugh and slipping her coat on. She immediately headed for the door and her next class, not wanting to chat with her new English teacher.

"Hey Bella," a voice called behind her, she turned around to see Angela walking up to her, "what's your next class?" She asked falling into step beside the shorter girl.

"U.S. History, I think," Bella said grabbing her schedule from her coat pocket, "Ya, with Walls."

"He's pretty cool," Angela shrugged, shifting her own backpack from one shoulder to the other. "Hey if you don't have any plans for lunch you should join my friends and me."

"Sure, yes, thanks;" Bella stammered as she reached her next classroom.

"Cool, see you then." Angela said starting for her own class.

The next two periods came and went; both history and pre-calculus were incredibly boring. The lecture in history was on the differences between the Jamestown and Massachusetts Bay Colonies; and math was math: there were numbers, letters, and Greek letters. Before too long it was lunch, and she started towards the Cafeteria with some overly eager boy she met in her math class.

She thought his name could have been Mike, but she wasn't really paying his attention. He was basically trying to show her that he was _the _big man on campus, and it wasn't getting him anywhere. Somewhere inside of him he knew it too, but it kept him on the attack. He pressured her for any information he could use to get a toehold, but Bella gave him nothing, and stopped even pretending to listen once she entered the cafeteria and saw Angela sitting at one of the center tables. Mike peeled away towards two other guys sitting over on the other side of the dank lunchroom.

Still worrying about the upcoming doctor's appointment, Bella opted not to eat; or to talk very much. She decided instead to listen to this schools gossip: who was dating whom and you'll never believe who did what. It was the standard stuff that was found at any high school.

It wasn't until Jessica, a friend of Angela's said, "Have you noticed that the high and mighty Cullen's aren't here today and it's not even sunny."

They had to be related to the doctor she was supposed to be seeing in less than four hours, "who?" She asked arching an eyebrow.

"Oh, sorry," Jessica responded, blowing a chestnut brown lock of hair out of her face. "Dr. Cullen and his wife adopted like a bunch teenagers. Some of them are distant relatives on his wife's side; the other two were adopted when they were younger." Suddenly she leaned forward putting her elbow's on the table, "The weird part it they're all like together; like _together,_ together."

"Okay," The new brunette said suddenly weirded out by the story her new acquaintance told, "what about Dr. Cullen, I have an appointment with him afternoon. Is he okay?"

"Ya, he's a good doctor," Angela said sensing her new friend's unease.

"Only if you can get past his weirdness, he gives me the mega creeps." Jessica interrupted her friend trying to gain all of the new girl's attention.

The bell rang suddenly, jolting Bella away from her thoughts and leaving a very disturbing mental image in her head, like something straight out of _Deliverance_ or out of the back woods of Louisiana. He's creepy, and lets his adopted kids do what teenagers are bound to do, especially when they live under the same roof.

The new revelation occupied every square inch of her brain throughout her last three classes. She let the information enter her brain and exit right back out again. And soon she was walking through the parking lot towards her awaiting truck. The now aching brunette forced the door open and threw her bag on the floor, arching her back for some relief. The pain that Bella had been expecting to come back all day finally settled back in.

The brunette slid the key into ignition and pulled out of the parking lot before most students even got to their cars. From the dashboard she took the lined piece of paper that contained the simple directions to the hospital, and her awaiting doctor's appointment.

A pair of golden eyes followed her every movement from the moment she stepped back outside in the slight drizzle to the time she pulled out of the school's parking lot. Alice had continued to watch over the new girl, with a fair amount of longing in her mind, as Bella drove off.


	4. The Good Doctor

**A/N: To answer all those with questions as to Alice's supposed stalking, even though not all of them have been verbalized, you will get an answer in this chapter. Regarding reviews, you know the drill: muse=review, no muse=enjoy. That lost something in translation, everyone should enjoy it regardless if they want to write a review.**

**Feel free to ignore that last part!

* * *

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The Good Doctor

_It doesn't matter where the waiting room is, they are always the same._ Bella decided after the first fifteen minutes in the acute care of the Clallam County Hospital. Naturally she was one of three people in the waiting room; naturally she was also the only one without a readily identifiable illness. It was clear even to the aching girl that the other two people only had the flu.

"Isabella Swan," A shrill voice called from the doorway between the waiting room and the hallway to the exam rooms.

Bella slowly stood up, careful to keep her back as straight as possible. Sometime during her chemistry class she figured out that if she kept her back straight her shoulders felt completely normal, no pain, no discomfort, no twinge, and best of all no blood. A few times during her last three classes she excused herself to go to the restroom and check to make sure she wasn't bleeding. She never was.

She followed the person she assumed was a nurse, through the doorway and down a short hallway ending at a small bulge in the hallway with an old fashion scale. "All right, Miss Swan. If you'd please take your shoes off and step on the scale." The nurse asked picking up a metal chart.

Bella slipped off her shoes and stepped onto the scale, slightly wincing in pain. The nurse fiddled with the weights for a few moments before the needle rested comfortably in the middle of the small square, an indicator that the Bella's weight and the weight on the arm were relatively the same. In a hasty scribble the nurse wrote "119," Bella breathed a small sigh of relief, there was no giant parasite living in her back. Not that the girl had given serious thought that there was a monster living underneath her skin.

"Alright, now Miss Swan, please stand against the wall." The nurse commanded lightly gesturing to a long track running from the floor to the ceiling on the wall opposite the scale with. Complying again, the patient stood against the wall watching as the nurse slid down an oblong piece of plastic with a small digital display down the track resting it firmly on the top of Bella's head. Again the nurse scribbled something down on her chart before leading Bella, shoes in hand, to an empty exam room. Once there, she took the girl's: blood pressure, temperature, and pulse; writing each down on the metal backed chart, never talking

The nurse left her without another word, sliding the metal chart into a plastic basket, and shut the door behind her. Left in the small dim waiting room Bella did what every patient does when no one else is in the room; she snooped around. There was nothing of any real interest, gloves, cotton balls, braces, and other medical necessities. Officially bored Bella took a seat in one of the uncomfortable chairs by the door and waited for Dr. Cullen. There were a couple of out of date celebrity magazines on the small end table and a book.

Bella picked up the book; it was a plain brown hardback about the size of a paperback; _Mythology_, was stamped on the side in bright gold lettering that looked old fashion. It looked fairly interesting to the now suicidally bored patient; she thumbed through it for a minute before finding a heavily dog eared section of text.

The section was titled _The_ _Sirens_ in the same long hand print as the title. Her eyes immediately fixated on the book, no longer out of bored necessity, but out of an intense unconscious desire. Bella began reading faster than she'd ever had before, finishing the short section in less than three minutes. She read it again, this time faster, and again, and twice more after that.

There was something intensely mesmerizing about that passage. It wasn't long, or complicated, and there was no story or actual myth attached to it; it was clinical, almost text bookish to the point of dry reading. And yet the material drew her in like a moth to a flame. Winged women with absolute beauty, and the unnatural ability to control men solely by song. Something about it struck a chord in the girl; it seemed distantly familiar.

But Bella was suddenly jarred away from her thoughts, the book, and the sirens when the door handle suddenly turned. With a small yelp by Bella threw the book slightly, losing it in her hands; it tumbled on the floor and as Bella attempted to catch it she too went falling to the floor sliding across the small space eventually hitting her head against the metal exam bed.

The door swung open stopping less than an inch from the dazed girls face. "I'd ask if you were feeling any better but the evidence speaks for itself." A man's voice said, holding back a slight chuckle, "Are you okay?" He added offering a hand to the embarrassed girl.

"I think so." The girl answered accepting the hand; taking the book in her free hand she slipped it into her coat pocket. A moment later, she wished she hadn't, the man's hand felt like an ice cube and hand a grip that a vice would be proud of.

"That's good," he said, helping his patient to her feet, "I'm Dr. Cullen, and you must be Isabella."

"Well Bella, why don't you hop on the table and we can get started." Carlisle said, pulling the chart from the basket. Used to the drill from all the other numerous doctors' visits she hopped on the table, making sure to keep her back straight.

"Alright," Carlisle continued checking the chart, "How long have your shoulders been bothering you?" He took a seat on the low rolling stool, closing the chart.

"It started yesterday afternoon, when I got off the plane." Bella said, noticing Dr. Cullen for the first time. The first impression was one of immediate distrust; everyone she talked to admitted he was a good doctor, and personal issues aside, he gave off some unconscious signal. Her second was quite the opposite; he was strikingly handsome, in the way that it was hard not to stare. "Then it kept getting worse until I went to bed last night."

"Does it hurt now?" He asked in a clinical manner focusing more on his chart than his patient.

"Well, it didn't when I woke up but it started hurting again just after lunch." She answered fidgeting. Everything about him was putting her on edge, his immaculate blonde hair, his impossibly smooth voice, and his unnaturally golden eyes. That doesn't even begin to cover all the subconscious signals that made the hair on the back of Bella's neck stand on end.

The doctor nodded and flipped back a page on his chart before speaking again, "on the phone you mentioned you found blood on your shirt." He placed the chart on the counter behind him and reached to the bottom drawer of the exam table and pulled out a standard hospital gown. "I'll step out and you can…"

"Take my clothes off and put the gown on. I know the drill." Bella cut the doctor off trying to get him out of the room as fast as she could.

"No need to take your pants, I just need to examine your shoulders." Dr. Cullen said placing the gown on the exam table next to his patient before heading out the door. "I'll be right there when you're done."

"Okay," Bella responded out of habit. The door shut and she quickly slid out of her jacket, shirt, and bra; before sliding the loose cotton gown and tying the small ties on the back. The pain in her shoulders doubled when she twisted to tie the gown and again when she leaned over and knocked on the door to signal the doctor that he could come back in.

The door creaked open and the doctor came back in, with a light smile playing across his lips. "Okay turn a little to your right." His patient dutifully complied, "I'll warn you, my hands are cold…poor circulation." His lie was complete and convincing, one perfected over time, and one that his patient couldn't detect.

Were he human it would be incredibly hard to hide his unease during the examination, fortunately he wasn't. He managed to keep his professionalism and fake his way through the exam. He knew what her problem was or would be before she called. The first few time's a siren uses her wings it's incredibly painful and uncomfortable, the skin must have opened up while she was asleep and let her wings unfold.

But he couldn't come right out diagnose the patient in front of him as being a siren. Well it was possible, but it would cause him to uproot his family and have to go through all the paperwork involved. So, he had to go through the motions or an exam, take her to radiology to have some x-rays taken which would uncover nothing, because a siren's wings have no bone in them. Even if he could have convincingly told her about what she was, he wouldn't have. A siren was a threat in any form; and, if she knew what she was and what she was capable of, there was no telling what she could do. In the good doctor's estimation it was best if she learned slowly and over time.

"Okay," he said finishing up the fake exam, "I'm going to send you down to get a couple of x-rays, and prescribe something for the pain, but I don't think it's anything serious. I'll call you as soon as the x-ray results are in." He scribbled something on his prescription, tore it off, and handed it to her along with a larger full page for the x-rays and the techs in radiology. "Head left out the door and follow the signs to radiology."

Like the nurse he too left without as much as a good bye. _Must be a busy hospital,_ Bella thought as she took the gown off and dressed in clothes actually meant to be worn by humans.

~~**~~**~~**~~

The brief break in the rain was nothing but a ploy by nature to lull the stupid people into a false sense of security. The brief break in the weather in the afternoon quickly faded into memory as a new set of dark purple and black clouds began to open up on the small town.

Alice checked her watch for what seemed like the hundredth time in the last hour. She was beginning to worry that something was more wrong than it had been in the past day. After constant streams of visions about her new fascination, she hasn't seen anything since the vision of Bella arriving at the hospital. She had to use her predatory instincts and her deductive skills to realize that she would have to stop by Safeway anyway. It was the only decent pharmacy in town, and for sure the only one attached to a supermarket.

The guilt had eaten away at Alice for the better part of the past day. She didn't want to continue stalking the girl; she wanted to meet her, to learn about her in the normal way; not by stalking her everywhere she went. She knew her family wouldn't (couldn't) understand why she was doing this; so she had to lie, tell them she couldn't handle having the subject of her visions so close to her, so she would go hunting for a few days. And for good measure she translated Thoreau's _Walden_ into Latin to block out her telepathic pseudo-brother.

In the end they all relented and allowed her to go. She took off on foot and headed as far away from them as possible. Fortunately she knew no one would be pretending to be human by going to school, and since vampires don't need peanut butter and squid in their daily diet, she was convinced they wouldn't be there either. So the pixie felt safe there too.

She idly pushed a squeaky cart up and down the aisles occasionally stopping to check labels and throw some random things to the bottom of the tan shopping cart. She knew it would only be a matter of time before _she_ would come through the doors and run in, quite literally. She'd seen it, not in a vision, but in her own mind. Using the same predatory instinct that she used to know that she would show up here, the raven haired vampire would position herself in the right way to ensure Bella, or her clumsiness, would prompt them into a 'chance' meeting.

Since she first foresaw Bella Swan's arrival in Forks all of her visions had been of her, until that afternoon when she arrived at the hospital

Another ten minutes of painfully boring repetition ticked by before the two automatic doors slid to either side revealing the drenched girl in the black and white ski jacket. Alice's heart felt like it had started beating in reverse; after all she surmised that that was the only logical way for her heart to stop more than it was.

The spiky haired girl likened it to seeing a celebrity for the first time; there was a certain sense of awe to it, like she was half expecting to snap out of a vision at any moment and Bella would fade into a memory. After a blinking her eyes a half dozen times Alice was satisfied that the taller brunette wasn't an apparition. She continued to stare at the younger girl for quite some time, allowing Bella to begin moving into the store.

She quickly moved in to begin shadowing Bella around the store, careful to keep her at just the right distance and angle; a technique she perfected during the part of her past which she was not in any way proud of.

Bella decided against picking up a cart, soon she would have to do some food shopping but that was when she wasn't in pain. She started through the store heading for the neon pharmacy sign, prescription in hand. The pain in her shoulders was more bearable today that it had been yesterday, but there was a new sensation floating around her brain: unease. There was something not right here too, just like there was something not right when she was at the hospital. A prickling sensation on the back of her neck, something distinctly foreign, but something she just lumped together with the massive back pain.

The closer to the pharmacy she got the more unnerved she felt. The pained girl looked to her right, nothing; to her left, nothing; there was nothing out of the ordinary and yet something on a core level was wrong. In any case, she continued on to the pharmacy counter, hopeful that whatever the Dr. Cullen prescribed would help.

A moment later she was greeted by an older woman in a white buttoned up lab coat and a small smile. Bella handed the small slip of soggy paper of paper to her along with her father's insurance card that she found sitting on the kitchen table after he left. The pharmacist took both, losing the small smile she had.

"You prescription will be ready in fifteen minutes Miss Swan," She said dismissively walking towards the back.

With a sigh, Bella looked up at the digital clock above the counter, "5:53," it read. Unlike most pharmacies she'd been too, there was no place to wait while the prescription was filled. She contented herself by walking the aisles trying to get a feel for the store.

Alice slipped neatly back into her blind spot after feigning interest in a variety of spices, while her new "prey" dropped of her prescription slip. _She's not you prey,_ Alice scolded herself, _an interest, a subject, but more than that a new friend._ She hoped the latter would be the case.

It's now or never, the small vampire thought as she wheeled her cart nearly silently into the perfect position.

"Why the hell have you been following me?" Bella all but shouted in the semi-crowded Safeway, not bothering to turn around. The uneasiness she felt moving through the store suddenly reached its peak and although she had no proof that she was being followed, but she was willing to risk being labeled as crazy to find out.

Alice suddenly felt like she'd been pierced through her heart. This wasn't the Bella she'd grown to know, where were the warm eyes, the soft voice? The vampire abruptly wanted to cry, but she knew instead that she would have to make it work. "I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to follow you," Alice said letting her shock into her voice.

In a huff the unknowing siren wheeled around, mouth open ready to speak when she suddenly froze. The person in front of her was like no one she'd ever seen; she was small, even to Bella's petite frame, with spiky black hair that seemed to defy all laws of physics, and her eyes were a brighter shade of gold than Dr. Cullen's, but where his were off putting these were completely captivating. Just seeing her melted away the pent up anger and frustration. "I'm sorry too," Bella choked out as best she could; feeling all the blood rush into her face and out of her feet. The off white linoleum floor came rushing up to meet her face.

Alice dove towards her personal celebrity trying to keep her standing, but she was still slightly stunned but the taller girl's outburst. Her reaction was, as a result was slowed just enough for Bella to be too far gone for her to steady, forcing the stronger vampire off balance, and toppling over onto the hard floor.

"Look I'm really sorry…" Bella started trying to get back up to her feet only to realize there was someone on top of her, and she didn't know that someone's name. She also realized that after the initial shock of the other girl's beauty, the unease came flooding back worse than it had been.

"Alice," The other girl said rolling off of her. "Alice Cullen," she added with a large grin, reaching a hand down to help the cause of the fall back to her feet.

Bella reluctantly took her hand, it was every bit as cold and icy as the doctor's. She hated it, there was something inherently wrong with skin that cold, but forced a smile anyway, "I'm Bella…err…Bella Swan." She managed to spit out without collapsing again.

Alice smiled again, "You're new here right?"

"Uh…ya," The aching brunette said, glancing past the shorter girl to the pharmacy counter, hoping to avoid another new kid conversation.

"Sorry, you've probably had this conversation a dozen times today," The vampire said sensing unease in the future siren in front of her.

"It's okay; I just, I don't like talking about myself" She whispered, looking nervously around her. Out of the corner of her eye, Bella noticed the cold pharmacist put a white bag under 'S.' Her prescription had to be ready, "Sorry to be rude, but I have to run."

"I'm sure I'll see you in school" Alice said before Bella had a chance to walk to far away.

"Um, ya sure." She replied hurrying towards the counter without being completely rude.

Alice stayed in the aisle wondering, worrying if she made the right choice. Everything about the encounter was awkward and rushed, not a good first meeting. And what was worse in her estimation is that she stole Bella's schedule out of her coat pocket. Alice could easily change her schedule to match the new girls; it was early enough in the semester to do that. But she was already losing the battle to stalking. At least she had one class with her. Hopefully it would be enough. The hurt vampire tossed the schedule to the ground and walked out of the supermarket into the heavy rain, leaving the full cart where it was.

Alice quietly swore to herself that there wouldn't be any more stalking, it just couldn't work like that.

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**Remember that stalking is what predators (like vampires) do with their prey. Not just what creepy boyfriends do when they can't take a hint.**


	5. First: Do No Harm

A/N: Hey all, sorry for the slight delay but this chapter did not want to happen. I hope you enjoy it and leave a review should your muse descend.

First: Do No Harm

The evening had methodically developed into night, without as much as a warning to its flight. Not that the sun had been visible behind the omnipotent blanket of black clouds that had taken up seemingly permanent residence along the western edge of Washington. The storm that had taken a short breather earlier that afternoon had redoubled its fury that night. And while the rain sent most people running for their homes, like rats on a sinking ship; the same creature took up her vigil for the second night in a row.

Alice sat on her haunches, motionless, amid the branches of the same pine that she called home the night before. Her topaz eyes focused intently on the plain window and the sleeping figure inside. Even with the rain pouring over her and the sleeping form in front of her, the raven haired vampire couldn't help but dwell on the first impression she'd made on Bella.

The moment was forced and rushed, she'd come to realize. Had she'd waited, exercised patience like she should have, Alice could have come across like a decent person and not some idiot stalker trailing through the store.

Of course she was a stalker.

And she was trailing her through the store.

_Next time,_ she thought, _the second time will be better than the first._ That is of course if she could get a second time. After the 'accident' in the supermarket she couldn't come across worse than she did…at least in her mind.

The tinny crash of shattering glass broke the pixie from her thoughts. Her eyes focused immediately at the source of the crash: a cheap black picture frame, joined quickly by the black plastic alarm clock. Her eyes traced up the plain comforter that had fallen by the way side, further up the simple pine nightstand, and finally reaching the double bed. What met her bright gold eyes was something that would stay with her for the rest of her existence. It was a sight that was utterly terrifying and yet at the same moment awesomely beautiful, like nothing she'd ever seen before. Two massive, white wings were stretched out, removing whatever obstacles stood in their way. Bella thrashed violently under the light sheet that somehow remained intact.

Alice sat there, in complete and utter awe at the sight in front of her. But more importantly she was completely torn in two. On one hand she had a desperate, almost primal, desire to rush to the bed side of the thrashing siren; she wanted nothing more than to hold the siren firmly in her arms. No matter what that desire told her, she knew on a much deeper, more intellectual level that she couldn't do that. Entering the siren's house uninvited crossed a firm line that Alice had drawn in her mind. It was the only keeping her from being an erotomanic stalker.

So for now, she would have to have to watch from a distance and hope one day that she would be able to help. But until that time, she would have to learn all she could about siren; more than the mythology, because that could only take her so far. Reluctantly the small vampire leapt from her perch and disappeared into the dark, silent forest; just as the sun began to creep above the horizon

~~**~~**~~**~~

The sleeping girl never noticed a thing; for Bella it was just another night, and another dream. This one so similar and yet so foreign.

_Majestic white wings that would make eagles jealous where stretched to either side in a sharp 'V' angle out of my shoulder blades. The clouds were a distant memory, stretched below me in an expansive sea of grey; the sun was a welcome sight, counteracting the frigid air around her with its warmth. Just like last night's dream, I flew with remarkable grace and poise that always seemed to elude me on the ground._

_This was my element, here, fifteen thousand feet away from a singer other person. The freedom was simply intoxicating. I couldn't let myself go back to the wet ground and the awkward girl that I was on the ground. I pressed on, flying towards the sun, keeping my eyes focused on the clouds below me. _

_Flying this way came as natural as breathing to me, more natural than walking. But then again, for me it wasn't harder for something to be more natural than walking._

_But this wasn't simply the same dream I had last night. Something was different; there was more to it than simply flying. Cradled gently in my arms was a figure, more than that I couldn't tell. It was small, almost too small to be an adult. Maybe it was a kid. But what was I doing taking a kid up to meet the sun._

_I stopped suddenly; moving my wings out of the tight 'V' pattern into a broader, stretching out as far as they could; moving in rapid figure eight movements that managed to keep me airborne. I hovered silently trying to see the 'person' in my arms, but it was all too fuzzy. The face looked like they do on TV when they don't want to show the faces, blurry and grey, as did the hair, the body, and the clothes; none of it looked familiar. _

In a sudden jarring snap Bella awoke, heart pounding, and sweat forming on her brow. Gasping for breath she desperately searched the room in the muted light of dawn. The terrible scene from the night before lay before bleary eyes. Bits of broken glass and plastic were strewn in a myriad of patterns all over the stained hardwood floors. The picture of she and her mother had broken free from its frame and was hugging the baseboard below the window, her bedspread was waded up and thrown against the wall, the small bedside lamp met the same fate as the frame's glass, and added small bits of black plastic, and the aggravating alarm clock had been pulled free of the from the wall and flung against the farthest wall.

Rubbing her eyes to make sure that she was seeing things correctly, the emerging siren fought back a scream. Nothing else looked out of place; the dresser, closet, and desk were perfectly fine, like nothing happened. After a few cleansing breaths she came to the completely rational decision that she must have thrashed around in the night and knocked everything off of the nightstand.

_Wow, a rational thought and it's not even seven A.M. yet, _Bella thought as she untangled herself from the top sheet that she managed to turn into a cocoon. She slid out of bed, careful to avoid the twinkling glass when a sudden blast of cold air hit her back. Her hands shot to what was left of her shirt, the simple white t-shirt that she went to bed was left in shreds. The front and sides were left relatively intact with only few small tears where the material was weakest; but the areas around the shoulder blades were rent in a pair of long mess holes.

Bella quickly stripped the shit off, looking of any sign of blood or alien life form…nothing, no trace of either on the shirt or the bed behind her.

The brunette's priority was no longer focused on cleaning the mess on the floor up, but to figuring out what was wrong with her. Clearly for as 'good' as Dr. Cullen was supposed to be, this was far over his head. She quickly finished stripping out of her disintegrating letting all of it fall carelessly to the floor.

Bella, thankful she showered the night before, dressed quickly enough to keep her frame from being racked with shivers on another cold morning. When her task was done, she snatched up the torn shirt, and ripping the closet door open, grabbed the older bloodstained one as well. This time, her mind was made up, there would be no appointment; she would shove the blatant evidence into the _good_ doctor's face.

But she would wait until after school. She was alive and missing her second day of school would make her stand out more than she already did.

~~**~~**~~**~~

When Alice left in the moments before dawn she already had a plan. Obviously Carlisle didn't have the desire to help her, and siren or not, Alice was already vested in the new girl. The run didn't help her clear mind at all, it was a torrid storm, and despite her calm exterior she seethed in anger.

The small vampire, completely soaked from the rain and coated in a fine film of grime from her time away from a shower, made her way up the manicured driveway to her family's home. The massive plaster and glass house came into view as Alice slowed her pace to that of a normal human. Opening the door she discarded the pair of mud caked tennis shoes and socks and stalked as quietly as she could up to her bathroom and the shower that awaited her.

Her mind was conspicuously blank as she showered at a lightning speed, stepping out less than two minutes after she had turned the shower on. The water hadn't been warm, but when you skin is as cold as stone already almost anything feels warm. She continued on her whirlwind pace and dressed even faster; all the while she could hear Carlisle in his office working on a new set of identities of the family.

_So he's just going to pack up and move_, Alice seethed as she padded to her pseudo-father's office. Out of habit she brought up a hand to knock, but soon changed her mind and burst through the door, slightly crushing the door knob on her way in.

"I've been wondering when you would show up." Carlisle said in his traditionally calm voice, a feat all vampires are capable of.

"So that's it, we're leaving? No discussions, no debates, you just decide to pack up and leave her after only three years?" Alice accused not bothering to hide the outrage and anger in her voice.

"Well we can't stay, not with a new siren running wild, so unless you have a better idea – we are leaving." He said tinting his calm voice with sarcasm.

"A better idea?" Alice scoffed in disbelief before changing to a softer tone, "Yes, I have a better idea." She left off knowing what the next question would be.

"And that is?" The Cullen's patriarch asked softly, he may not have had the gift of foresight, but after three hundred years he learned to anticipate the incredibly obvious.

"Help her!" Alice shouted; the sheet rock crumbled into a tiny puff of dust as she brought her hand against the wall.

"We can't help her." Carlisle said, allowing some frustration creep its way into his tone, "She's a siren, a threat to us and a threat to everyone in Forks. We have to leave before things get bad."

Alice began, calming herself down as she went, "Carlisle, Bella _isn't _a siren. Not yet at least; right now she's a scared girl who doesn't know what is happening to her. You claim to be a doctor – prove it; because by doing nothing you're allowing harm to come to a lot of people." Alice felt like she was trying to convince the Earth to stop spinning, but she had come so close that she couldn't stop now. "Leave if you want; but I'm going to stay and I'm going help her."

Her supposed father was stunned at the pure honesty, forcing him to pause (if only for the briefest of moments) but in that pause his newest 'daughter' was already out the door and down the stairs, ready to tell the rest of the family what they have managed to keep between them for the better part of the fall. Rising slowly from the antique winged backed chair, the eldest vampire moved with deliberate determination making his way down stairs to his awaiting family.

His footsteps were silent as he glided down the stairs and into the large living room, no one was there. He was wrong, Alice hadn't told anyone; she'd simply left. Most likely she was following through on her plan. _She deserves an explanation,_ Carlisle thought as he collapsed into an overstuffed armchair, _they all do._ A wave of exhaustion washed over him, for the first time in a few centuries he felt tired.

Alice didn't want to tell the family, she could see that Carlisle was acting solely out of fear (a coward in her opinion,) but eventually he would come to his senses and act rationally. Though it was just past six thirty she figured school would be a decent distracter, besides it would give her an excuse to see Bella again and hopefully make up for the way she acted the day before. She easily scouted the entire school before deciding that there was no one there to notice if she hadn't arrived in a car.

Taking a seat on a covered bench, the honey eyed vampire produced a book from her designer backpack and pretended to read it, she didn't expect any of her family to show up, and she had to find a normal way to pass the time. Eventually the parking lot began to fill with all the regular students milling about and gossiping about what students at a small school gossip about. It was something that hadn't changed much in the last hundred years, not that any of these students held any interest for the raven haired creature.

That would soon change; a mile down the road a low rumbling sound reached the small vampire's ears. It was an unmistakable roar, distinct from the low growls of thunder that still rolled through the area; the sound that made her ears perk was mechanical, the mixture of gears grinding, pistons firing, and belts turning. It was unmistakable, it was _her_; it was Bella. She would be coming in just a few minutes, but this time would be different; this time Alice had no intention of forcing a meeting. It would happen soon enough. The rusty red truck pulled into the small student lot and soon silence replaced the loud roar of the engine.

Alice out of the corner of her eye, watched with apparent causal disinterest as the taller brunette stepped out of the pickup's cab. Alice, continued to focus on the book in front of her, but kept an eye as the new girl came closer.

"Hi," Bella said with a nervous smile.

"Hey," Alice responded with her usual level of enthusiasm. Already small groups of students were gathering around the edges of the parking lot to stare at the new girl bravely talking to a Cullen.

"I'm sorry for yesterday. I shouldn't have snapped at you like that." Bella continued in the same nervous tone, this time she wasn't nearly as uncomfortable around.

"It's okay," Alice said setting her book aside, "Don't tell anyone, but I kinda was following you." Alice added a small giggle and a wink.

"Really," The chocolate eyed girl asked raising an eyebrow, "and why's that?"

"Well, everyone's been talking about you coming for a while, and I was curious. Don't tell anyone, I like to think I'm beyond all this high school gossip." Alice remarked coyly moving her bag off the small bench to allow her new acquaintance to sit. "So how's Forks treating you?"

"The polar opposite of Phoenix: cold, cloudy, and rainy. But it doesn't seem terrible; most of the people are nice." Bella answered with a little smirk of her own. The unease she felt around the tiny girl the day before seemed to have melted away with the shoulder pain.

"Something tells me that I'm not amongst the nice people." The vampire retorted.

"You weren't, until a minute ago…" Bella didn't get a chance to finish her thought when the sound of screeching tires on asphalt caused her head to turn. A sleek black car that had no business being in a high school parking lot screeched to a halt in front of the bench where the two girls sat. The dark windows formed perfect mirrors in the dim light.

Slowly, with the engine turning off, the door swung open, and a figure wearing an expensive looking suit. It didn't take Bella but an instant to recognize him, it was Dr. Cullen, his face was a wash of neutrality, but in that wash there was a subtle burning. Bella quickly looked back at Alice, who sat there eyes wide and mouth frozen in a slight grimace.

"Hey, Bella I think I have to go." Alice said in a nervous, but steady, voice. She rose slowly with the same slow determination that the doctor just showed slipped inside the black Mercedes before it peeled out.

Bella was left in shock, trying to piece together what just happened.


	6. Confession and Resolution

**A/N: Hey all, I know by some standards it hasn't been a particularly long time between updates, but for me it is. I apologize, but life has a weird way of fouling up one's life. Well here's the delayed sixth chapter for you all to enjoy. And remember should you get a muse of your own feel free to drop a review, if not just enjoy yourself.**

**Edit**: **Sorry, if you've read it before hand, I quick typed this before class today, so I didn't get a chance to review the bottom, but I think it's fixed.

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Confession and Resolution

The tension in the sleek car was palpable, oozing out of every pore on both occupants. Alice, still not having visions, was truly scared for the first time; she'd called her father out and he responded. Her arms, legs, neck, mouth, torso, hands, and feet were all spring coiled.

Ready to fight back or ready to run.

She watched as Carlisle's face moved slowly away from a smoldering anger that hung in his eyes to a more dispassionate remorse that began to pull the stone muscles of his mouth into a distant frown.

He'd made a decision; that much was clear enough to his newest daughter.

But what decision?

That was what truly worried her.

"I haven't told you the truth," Carlisle began not taking his eyes off the road, "I have more than a…theoretical knowledge of sirens." His tone was remote, distant; almost like the platinum blonde was remembering something that he'd spent years to forget.

An unintentional sigh of relief escaped the lips of the spiky haired girl. "What happened?" She asked before her mind could stop her mouth from speaking.

Carlisle's face eased up out of the frown, "I think that story is best suited until we get home, I'm sure the others want to know just as much as you do."

Suddenly the storm cloud hovering over Alice's head vanished, leaving a goofy smile plastered on her face, "Carlisle, are you saying what I think you're saying."

A small smirk found its way onto the patriarch's lips, "maybe, but probably not what you're hoping I'm saying." For the briefest of moments Carlisle's eyes left the road and focused on his daughter adding a tiny wink. He reached the city limits of Forks and floored it the rest of the way home.

A handful of minutes later the Mercedes silently coasted into the garage of the large white house, before the engine was cut. Two figures ghosted out of the car shutting the doors with silent precision. Both did their best to remain neutral and on the outside they did, but around an empath and a telepath looking dispassionate did not mean that they could get away with it. It wouldn't be long before the rouse was nothing but a hollow façade.

Carlisle took the lead and walked in short seemingly sure steps, but every step felt heavier to him, like a condemned man walking to the death chamber. He had already relived the horror in his mind, now he would have to put words to the thoughts and feelings and memories, and all the while knowing that his family might not understand. They would try to, there was no doubt about that, but would they be able to understand? That was the question that plagued him, and the dread that accompanied it, would be immediately picked up.

Alice was less worried about hiding her enthusiasm, but made an effort to match the mood that would undoubtedly accompany whatever revelation Carlisle was about to share. She hadn't seen it yet, but she knew that soon she would be able to help the girl that had somehow managed to completely captivate her in only a few short days.

The passed quickly though the house until they walked into the expansive dining room. "What's up C-man, Alice leaves, then you tell us to split from a couple of days and then there's a big emergency and we have to get home ASAP." All eyes focused immediately on the source of the booming voice. Leaning against the far wall stood a bear of a man, towering above everyone else and built more like a tank than a man. His black curly hair was cropped close to his head, and like the rest of his family his eyes were the color of polished brass.

"Well," Carlisle began taking a much deeper breath than necessary, "I haven't been as forthcoming as I should have been, as of late." His tone was softer than Alice thought it would have been; there was fire in his words, it sounded apologetic.

"What are you talking about?" A soft voice spoke inclining his head slightly. His hair was a tangled mess of bronze locks and the rest of him was long and lean; a physique that normally comprised a runner's physique.

"That's what I'm getting to, Edward. Alice and I have been aware of a…situation…for a while that I thought was prudent to keep to ourselves." Carlisle's eyes seem to grow empty, like he continued to detach himself from what was happening in his mind and what was around him.

The room reverted back to the uncomfortable stillness that had taken up near permanent residence. All eyes were fixed upon the family's patriarch as he took one last deep breath. Edward and Emmett hadn't moved from where they had been moments before; Esme, Carlisle's wife, sat at the far head of the table focusing intently on what her husband was about to say; to her left, a picture perfect model type sat watching with feigned disinterest, although ever part of her was just as curious as the others.

She was the next in what seemed like a perfect rehearsed order, "Take your time, Carlisle." Rosalie's normally snide voice was replaced with uncharacteristic compassion.

"Thank you, I don't know exactly how to say this, but I may as well get it out there now." Carlisle began slowly sitting at the head of the table. "As I'm sure you all know Charlie's daughter Bella recently arrived in Forks. What I'm sure you aren't aware of is that she's…a siren."

The disclosure evidently failed to sink in, sirens were rarely spoken of and even rarer still to see; even for a scourge of vampires. Carlisle took another deep breath and continued, "Like werewolves sirens are what exist to counter vampires. They are a natural evolution in humans, but they are incredibly rare to see or hear of. In fact in life I've seen one. And I've seen what damage and harm they could cause if they set their mind to it."

"They aren't abnormally strong, or fast, or agile. But what they are, is every bit as dangerous. If vampires feed on the body, than sirens feed on the mind; though not directly." He still received blank stares of those around him, expect of course for Alice who knew most of this already. "They hunted our kind to the brink of extinction in prehistoric times, using a weapon that we would never expect…people."

A collection of eyebrows rose slightly, but no one dared to interrupt Carlisle as his story unfolded. "What truly makes a siren dangerous isn't what she can do; it's what she can inspire people to do. If done properly they can inspire men to work as an unbreakable and cohesive unit and give them strength beyond that of a normal person. If done incorrectly or without intention a siren can bend most men and few women completely to their will until they are nothing but a mindless drone."

"I've seen the latter; in Romania. It was 1886, after I decided to leave Italy; I traveled very briefly in Eastern Europe and the day after I saw this I headed for America. Many areas of Romania are extremely remote, even today and more so back then. There was really no government so rule was left to the small townships scattered around the countryside. I came across this town quite by accident; the smell of the town was intriguing and overpowering. It turns out it was a mixture of the siren's scent and the filth of the town. When I say filth, I mean it in every sense of the word: the people were unwashed and unkempt; sewage flowed through the already muddy streets; and the homes were little more than rough hovels. When I walked into town no one gave me a second look, only the men were allowed outside during the day, and even them had a glassed over eyes that were fixed down to the ground. The village was situated on a hill, as a lot are in that area of the world, and the only decent house in the village sat on the top. In any other town it would have looked magnificent but it was a diamond in cow shit, for want of a better metaphor. I couldn't believe my eyes, when I walked up to it."

"I've never had idealized delusions about what feats of cruelty and ignorance rulers were capable of, but this was unbelievable. Around the outside was a simple wooden fence; beyond that fence was a carved marble walkway surrounded by a manicured garden. No one paid any attention to me as I walked in the house. There were a handful of maids in the main house that were dressed slightly better than the men outside, and no cleaner. They had the same glassy look in their eye though and paid me even less attention. I followed a winding staircase up three stories and found her sitting on the roof of the manor house was what seemed like a young girl. It was a figure that I'd only seen in books; she was facing away from me, so all I saw at first were a large pair of stark white wings, which contrasted greatly with the dark sky. She was looking over the town, at what she created. Eventually she noticed my presence and flashed a wicked and manipulative smile. She spent the next five minutes bragging about how she managed to enslave an entire town and anyone she couldn't control she had imprisoned in the cellars of the houses, and the only reason she told me was because I was next. I managed to escape before she sang the first note."

"It may not sound like much to any of you, but it's something I can't forget. Seeing the total absence of free will…it makes me sick." He sighed, finally finishing his story he slumped back slightly.

After a few precious moments he spoke again. "Compound all their abilities with the already present werewolf population and we could be looking at a complete take over." He suddenly broke off his story heavily, what followed was a revelation and confession tied into a neat package. "I've been turning a blind eye to all of this, hoping that it would go away. But it hasn't, and luckily it hasn't gotten worse either; so now I pose a question to you. Do we try to help her, or do we leave?"

Alice chimed in on Carlisle's heels, "Help!"

"Leave," Edward spoke, not moving an inch.

"Help," Esme added flashing a warm motherly smile at her daughter.

"Leave," Rosalie and Emmett said in unison. Somewhere during Carlisle's story, Emmett had shifted from the wall and now stood behind Rosalie with a protective hand on her shoulder.

"Then it's a tie, because I also vote to stay and help. Originally I wanted to leave for selfish reasons, but now, Alice helped me to realize that I can't let what happened all those years ago happen again." Carlisle cast the last vote and a very compelling reason to go with it.

For the first time that morning the room was stunned, they'd all suspected from the story that he'd spent so much time crafting that he would be the first to vote to get the hell out of town.

"We can't stay here!" Edward interjected, "What if she figures out what we are, and tries to raise an army against us."

Alice shot him a glare that could stop a human heart cold, "She won't, she doesn't even know what's going on with her, and if we leave it might turn into another Romania, but with news coverage that might expose us anyway. Our best option is to stay and teach her some way to control it."

"And how do you suppose we should start?" Rosalie sniped from across the table.

"I already have." Alice responded with quiet confidence, "When she went to see Carlisle, I saw what room she was going to be in and I slipped a mythology book to her, with the pages about sirens dog eared. Since then she hasn't been able to put the book down. Do you have a better idea?"

Rosalie's lips pressed together in a moment of infinite disdain, but ultimately said nothing.

"So C-man, it's a tie," Emmett bellowed out the obvious, "are we staying or leaving?"

"I'm not going to speak for any of you, if you wish to leave, I will not stand in your way, but I'm staying with anyone who wants to stay." Carlisle said quickly regaining his composure and status as he stood again.

"Whether or not it's a good idea, I'm not going to leave her." Alice said, sending a withering look at Edward, who was still scowling over the idea. Her mother gave her a wide smile and a nod; she was going to stay too, but there had never been a doubt in Alice's mind of that simple fact.

"I might as well stay too," the bear like vampire shrugged, earning an elbow to the gut from Rosalie, "Besides, can't leave Shorty here with the big bad siren all alone." His joke earned him another elbow to the ribs.

"I guess that means I'm staying too," Rosalie relented dropping the snide façade again.

All eyes turned to Edward; it had always been known that Edward by far was the most conservative in the family. He would move and change his identity if someone looked at him for too long. He returned every one of their glares with one of his own; he rose slowly from the table and left without a single word. No one stopped him, or even stood in his way. They all agreed they wouldn't, if anyone wanted to leave that was their choice. He would be back, all five of them knew it, but he had to figure that out on his own, again. It wasn't the first time he left, nor would it be the last.

~~**~~**~~**~~

The rain continued to fall in heavy sheets when Bella left the only class she could even remotely tolerate, English. And that was first period, it all goes downhill from there. Lunch was tolerable most days, but the students were, for the most part, completely superficial; something that she couldn't stand; if it wasn't for Angela, the one decent friend that she made, she probably would have gone crazy by now.

She slowly drifted through US History and Pre-Cal taking notes, but not paying any particular attention to whatever the lecture was about barely conscious the entire time. The anger that burned inside her earlier slowly receded back into the far corners in her mind and in its place came and uncontrollable terror that she was dying of some unknown and terrible disease, and the only way to begin to fight that terror was to keep her mind seemingly occupied on the monotony of school. The only thing that even began to take her mind off her situation was Alice, a girl she'd only really talked to that morning. For some odd reason, and despite the rocky start, she felt more comfortable with the spiky haired girl than she had with anyone else she'd met in the new school.

Lunch rolled by uneventfully again, save for some idle gossip from everyone at her table that only provided contrast for her fears. She found herself idly playing with her food, never actually eating it. Thankfully for her the bell rang again, and she was mercifully rescued from lunch.

Pulling on her jacket she headed for her next class, Spanish, stopping only to throw away her untouched food. Again, nothing was able to keep Bella's attention for long, especially not conjugating more irregular verbs and writing boring short sentences about her plans for the weekend. She coasted through yet another class and then the rain falling during the walk to her next class. The drenched brunette stopped at the doorway to her next class, chemistry, and pressed some water from her hair before entering the classroom.

She slowly took her seat at the only empty bench in the room and absently pulled a notebook and a pen out of her bag, slowly started coloring in the corners of the first seemingly blank page.

Breathing a heavy sigh of frustration the new girl glanced up at the clock. Almost two hours before she could get the hell out of school and go back to that moron of a doctor. Her thoughts were interrupted by the sound of a metal stool being dragged across the cheap linoleum of the classroom.

Bella slowly raised her head to find Alice playfully staring at her, "You must really be concentrating on coloring." The pixie joked looking gesturing towards the page that Bella had been drawing on for the better part of five minutes.

"Umm…ya, something like that," The brown eyed girl responded with a quiet almost chuckle, "I've just been thinking."

"I bet I know about what," Alice responded focusing her eyes jokingly at the other girls soaked hair. "The rain I'm sure."

A quick stab of anxiety flashed through Bella at the first remark, but there was no way that some random girl she'd met the night before had somehow managed to figure out what was wrong with her a total of ten minutes. "Mhmm," she hummed with a quick nod, "so what happened this morning?" She blushed a bit embarrassed that she actually asked the question.

Alice laughed a short musical laugh before she answered the question, "Well…hmm, see my dad has a flare for the dramatics, I forgot that I had a dentist appointment this morning, so..." She lied to her new friend far too believably. "It was no big deal, but I hate when he does that."

The taller girl didn't say anything else she just nodded a few times as a gesture of understanding. The bell rang and she found her thoughts drifting back to the ripped and bloodstained t-shirts in the bottom of her bag for most of the period. Towards the end of the period her thoughts were yanked back into the real world when a small slip of folded paper was casually pushed into her hand by her bench mate.

She looked from the note to Alice and then back again before unfolding it. "Doing anything after school" in a perfect calligraphy that looked like it had come from a fountain pen instead of the ball point pen that the golden eyed girl was using. Flipping it onto its back she started to pen "doctor's appointment" but quickly scratched it out and "nothing, why?" was put in its place. As casually as she could she slid it back over the table to Alice's awaiting hands.

A small smirk crept onto her lips, almost invisible to Bella. Underneath the taller girls answer she scribbled, "good, cause I'm coming over."

The longer haired girl almost laughed when she saw the response but didn't want more attention on her than necessary. She was a little overwhelmed by Alice's forwardness, but wasn't going to argue with the only thing that managed to keep her mind focused on something other than her potential problems. Before Bella could write a response the bell rang, she looked over at Alice with a shrug and said "Well if you insist."


	7. Will the Truth Help

**A/N: Okay I feel an explanation is in order for my now infrequent updates. Two weeks ago I started at a new university and then started working at my old college at the same time so I know officially have no life. But in that time I had a chance to read **_**On Writing**_** but Stephen King (I highly recommend it for any aspiring writer) and he said the best way to get better was to write at least a thousand words a day. And guess who's now doing that? So this, hopefully, will be the last giant three week break without an update. I want to start updating once a week so this story doesn't get stale in my mind and the characters wooden. Wow that was long winded of me; so I won't keep you away from what you came from any longer.**

Will the Truth Help?

_I know what's wrong with you_. Six words that turned Bella's world completely upside down in the five seconds since her new friend spoke them. At first she thought that her brain might explode from the enormity of the meaning behind them, and then she thought she would just wake up from a terrifying yet exciting dream, lastly she thought she would faint. Her breathing came to her faster and faster as her heart rate sped up and her vision became a dark tunnel with only a flicker of light at the very end. Somewhere in the deepest corners of her mind the world came rushing up to meet her, but with a jarring clarity it stopped in its tracks.

She never fell.

Her vision was still dim.

But she never fell.

Alice saw to that, at the first stumbling of her subject turned friend she rushed to her side and supported the taller girl's weight with a slender arm wrapped around her waist. An indefinite moment passed before the brunette was able to slip out of the pixie's arms and stand on her own. The small vampire held back a chuckle as she watched Bella try to stand like a fawn for the first time.

"I'm sorry, what did you say?" The taller girl asked, trying to shake the cobwebs out of her head. Surely she didn't hear her right the first time. How in the hell could a random girl from high school have any way of knowing what was wrong with her. Her mind shifted into overdrive and suddenly she made several connections all at once, first she remembered that her father was the same doctor that examined her the other day; then she realized that there had to have been a diagnosis and that he broke patient confidentiality and told his daughter. On reflex alone she pushed herself away from Alice.

Slightly taken aback by Bella's action Alice recoiled slightly before responding. "I know what's wrong with you and I know why you're hurting." She fought the urge to step forward, instead letting the soft determination of her voice carry the weight of what she was saying.

The chocolate eyed girl's stomach surged up into her throat, realizing that she'd heard the person she thought to be a new friend correctly the first time. "How is it possible that you know what's wrong with me?" Her voice wavered a little with a small mixture of: pain, fear, and anger.

A small smirk pulled the corner of the golden eyed girl's mouth up, "Right now, if I told you, you wouldn't believe me?" Alice sat down in the well worn recliner at the other end of the small living room; Bella collapsed on the sofa.

Her head still spinning she couldn't have in anyway seen what was coming just an hour before. Hell even ten minutes ago when she and Alice and pulled into the earthen driveway she didn't know what weirdness awaited her in her new home. Suddenly more things started to click into place. Alice's forwardness, the note, following her home, she was being a puppet. Whatever was wrong with her must have been disastrous if the doctor couldn't tell her himself.

"Are you alright?" A voice cut through the murky darkness of her mind like a like light from the sun. But even then it seemed like a disembodied voice coming across her from the ether.

"Are you alright?" The voice asked again, forcing Bella back into the real world.

_Of course,_ Bella thought, _of course it was Alice's voice._ She blinked a few times, but the room still seemed unreasonably bright. It was a few elongated moments before she realized that she wasn't sitting on the couch anymore, she was laying on it, draped with a light blanket, Alice at her side. Suddenly she at ease, no more dread, nor fear, nor pain, nor anger.

"What's wrong with me?" The new siren choked out in a terribly horse voice. Alice noted that a look of unrestrained grief flashed in Bella's eyes, "Am I dying?" She slowly shifted into an almost sitting position her face now only inches away from Alice's.

Alice said nothing, opting instead to shake her head slowly from side to side. She had to restrain herself from doing anything stupid, especially now. The vampire slowly pulled back, to a safe distance where she could draw enough breath to be able to form words, "No Bella, you're not dying. Technically you aren't even sick."

"Then what _is _wrong with me?" Bella responded out of pure frustration. Here was someone who claimed to know what was wrong with her and instead of just telling her she was dangling the knowledge in front of her.

"I'm not entirely sure how to say it, but it has to do with the book that you _found_ in the exam room." Alice responded slowly, resisting the urge to come closer.

"Uh huh," Bella responded knitting her brow. "That has something to do with what's wrong with me? It was a book on Greek mythology."

"I know it was, but was there a section that seemed to jump out at you when you read it?" The pixie asked in a soft voice that hid a level of desperation. Her visions, which still centered on the new addition to Forks, seemed to go blank when Alice added herself into the mix. She needed to know just how easy it was going to be to convince her that things long thought not to exist really did.

"Not rea…ya, actually there was." Bella said with wide eyes, "it was about Sirens or something." She forced her mind to turn off; she didn't need to start making more seemingly random connections.

"What if I told you that a lot of what is believed to be legends really existed?" Alice said not moving a fraction of an inch, her eyes still level with Bella's.

Silence strained the room, suffocating all thoughts before they were even given life; Bella inched closer as if what had to be said could never be said aloud. Her brown eyes began to lose themselves in Alice's topaz ones. Suddenly there was something more going on in this little room than there had previously. It was no longer about Bella's new identity as a siren that the two girls were focused on; it dawned on both of them that a tangible connection formed between them for a moment and then receded into the depths of their minds.

"What were we talking about?" Bella asked once the moment was over. Whatever just happened managed to erase all thoughts, all feelings, and all expectations from the young girl. Now she contented herself to do nothing but look into the eyes of her new friend.

"Why you've been hurting; I think." Alice answered. She wanted to come closer because of what could happen if she did, but she knew felt her control slipping, with each ticking second it became harder and harder to be in the same room with the new siren, and a slip now would easily kill them both.

"That's right." Bella said after another long paused filled with a stronger connection. Emboldened, she reached a shaking hand up and placed it gently on Alice's cheek; only to have the vampire recoil the same moment. A wash of shame filled the younger girl even before her friend recoiled.

"I'm sorry; I dunno what came over me." She said lowering her eyes away from Alice who, to her credit, never retreated to the other side of the room. Each set of eyes remained securely glued to the other.

"Maybe I should go," Alice said not making any attempts to stand up, "It's getting kinda late and I have homework I should be doing." She continued to say; not wanting to spoil whatever was going on between the two of them and yet knowing that she would have to for both their safeties.

"No," Bella said snapping Alice out of her ramblings, "you told me you knew what the hell was going on and you are in no way leaving until you tell me."

"What if you don't believe me?" Alice asked shifting closer to Bella for the first time, letting the younger siren's scent wash all over her, losing herself in such a simple pleasure for as long as she could.

"Are you going to say something crazier than I have an alien gestating in my back that's going to burst out and terrorize the world? If not then it's nothing crazier than what I've imagined." Bella said with a certain ferocity that Alice had never heard in her two months of watching every aspect of her life. Of course in all that time the seer had seen plenty of anger out of the siren, but that was mostly around _that_ time of the month and it was a short lived anger that died out as soon as it was let out into the open. This anger smoldered deep within her eyes.

"Well, I suppose it's only about that crazy." Alice started continuing to inch closer, "Bella, you're a Siren."

"I was afraid you were going to say that." Bella said as if in a trance before finally finishing the faint that she started earlier in the afternoon. Her vision closed to a grey tunnel with no light at the end of it, just Alice's face.

Alice let out a small musical giggle as Bella sunk back into the narrow couch. "You took that better than I would have thought." Alice said to her, now, unconscious friend as she gently laid her down on the couch and wrapped a light wool blanket around her. As tempted as she was to lie down next to her, the pixie ultimately decided against it. In two months, Alice, without admitting it to herself (or to any of her family) had fallen in love with Bella. Gritting her teeth, Alice went back to sitting in the threadbare armchair.

So much she wanted to cry and knew that the tears would never fall. Without her visions she felt so blind, a vision right then would have told her if Bella would ever feel the same way about her, and that was maddening! For the very first time in all those weeks she would give anything to get those visions back, just so she would know how what to do.

"Alice," Bella groaned, slowly coming back into the conscious world.

In a flash the pixie was by her side, taking a warm hand in her icy ones. "I'm right here, Bella."

"Was I dreaming or did you really say that I was a siren?" Bella asked; lurching up to wrap her arms around Alice's waist, and burying her head in the crook of the vampire's neck at the same time.

"You weren't dreaming." Alice said running a hand over Bella's hair, "it's okay."

"What's any of it mean…do you know?"

"Shh," Alice said, "Baby steps. There's no need to rush into all of that." Her voice was filled with concern, but that didn't stop her from smiling at the contact with her secret love.

It gave her hope.

For the first time in months she had hope.

**End Note: I know that this chapter is almost a thousand words shorter than my average chapter but in the first draft it was indeed much longer but I realized that I had a good end point and figured rolling the other over into the next chapter was a good idea. Oh and feel free to drop a review off if your muse is kind enough to come upon you.**


	8. What Now?

A/N: I told you all that I wouldn't be doing three week updates anymore. By now you know the drill so I won't keep you. Have at it!

What Now?

Seconds ticked to minutes.

Minutes ticked it hours.

And the hours slowly melted by.

And even as time passed around them, Bella did not move from Alice's cold grip. The initial shock faded around her and the new fear, the fear of knowing. The thought, the hope that once she knew what was wrong with her then, vanished like fog in an intense sun.

This was something that she couldn't understand, something her mind was unable to comprehend, let alone deal with. There was absolutely no way to rationalize any of this. That's why she clutched onto Alice like a life raft. It was the only thing she could do if she had any hope of not completely falling apart. And even then, her grip was slowly fading.

"Alice?" Bella whispered. "What do you know about…it…err…being a siren."

"Well, for one thing, I know you can fly."

"Fly?" The color drained from the younger girls face. She could barely keep from falling on the ground, how in God's name would she be able to keep herself airborne? There were times when she thought breathing was too dangerous. If you have to crawl before you could walk then, in her mind, you have to walk before you can fly. And walking was something she hadn't mastered yet.

"I'm sorry, that was a little – blunt." Alice said flashing another one of her reassuring smiles. The constant contact was making it harder and harder for her to ignore the thirst that was slowly building up inside of her. Venom trickled its way down her teeth before pooling on her tongue, so fast that it seemed like she was constantly having to swallow to keep from spitting all over the young siren as she talked.

It was a massive tug of war, on one side, (her rational side) told her to leave before she did anything to hurt her friend. And her irrational side told her to stay, that her friend needed her there more than she needed blood. It was impossible to make a decision because both sides wouldn't cede an inch to each other. As a result, Alice forced herself to tightly coil herself, so that she could stay as long as possible and bolt out when her control finally slipped through her fingers. Although by then it might be a bit too late.

"Don't worry; baby steps, remember?" The vampire said between gulps of venom and tightly controlled breaths to allow as little of her absolutely intoxicating scent to touch upon her nostrils as possible. "and, it _will_ come naturally."

"Is that why my back's been hurting?" Bella asked, realizing that as soon as the question passed her lips she was in the running for the world's most idiotic question. A faint blush rose on her cheeks and she buried her head deeper into the vampire's neck.

"Ya, it is." Alice said, choosing her words and tone carefully. She could easily sense the embarrassment of the question and wanted to avoid either hurting or pitying the new siren. "There are wings folded into your back, and they're like any other part of you, if you keep them in one position for two long they cramp up."

"This may actually sound stupid, but no stupider than my last question. Is it magic?" If she hadn't already accepted her award for best idiotic question that one could have been her acceptance speech – and her entry for the next competition.

Alice let a small laugh escape before she answered. "No, it's not magic. Its nature, sirens are an evolved from of a human. The wings have probably been growing for as long as you have, you just noticed it. Think of it as puberty round two."

"Great." Bella said, "Because round one was oh so much fun." She tried only to smirk but it wasn't too long before her smirk gave way to a giggle and before a giggle gave way to a laugh and from there it cascaded until both of them couldn't stop laughing at the memory. Though for Alice it was a memory that she only held fragments of.

"Ya but this one will be so much better, I mean at the end of one you get a driver's license, at the end of this one you get to learn how to fly…and not a plane." Alice said dragging Bella to her feet.

"I guess you're right, but like you said baby steps. I have plenty of time to learn this stuff." Bella said. "How do you know so much about sirens?" The last question managed to bypass her brain and just come out.

Alice froze, without her visions even the most apparent questions evaded her.

She didn't have an answer.

_What happens if I lie to her?_

_What happens if I tell her the truth?_

This was a classic impasse that her visions guided her through for close to a century, and now it painfully slapped her in the face that she realized that she'd never had one of these problems since her visions began focusing on Bella. Until now.

"I know a lot of things, about a lot of things." Alice said with a coy smile, hoping that the subject would be dropped.

"Oh, okay." The siren said, "Well, I think I should start on – something." Her tone suddenly went flat. Alice knew all too well what was going on, the initial shock of the situation wore off, leaving Bella once again with more questions than answers.

"Want me to leave so you can start on – something?" Alice asked pulling back just slightly out of Bella's tight grasp.

"Umm…No, yes, no, I dunno it just kinda hit me all at once, you know." Bella thought she'd taken the news well – aside from the fainting, of course – but a sudden wave of new and inexplicable emotions just hit her anger chief was among them. She didn't want to be thought of as a freak that people would constantly poke at and study for the rest of her life. She wanted to be a normal high school junior biding her time until she can go off to college and start on her real life.

"I know the feeling." Alice said, forcing her smile to stay on her lips. Sometimes what someone else is thinking is quite obvious, even without telepathy.

Bella slowly released her grasp on the short vampire "Why me?" Bella asked through clenched teeth; a tear began streaking down her face.

"That, I don't have an answer to." Alice replied wiping the tear from her face.

"I thought you knew!" Bella said throwing herself up from the couch.

"I know a lot, but I don't know why you." Alice rose from the couch stretching a hand out for Bella's shoulder.

"Don't! Just leave. I want to be left alone." Bella's words hit the pixie with more force than words should be able to carry. The stars of hope that Alice began to see an hour before had vanished in an instant.

"Of course, but if you want to…"

"Just go!"

Alice left without another word, leaving the new siren to battle through the raging torrent of emotions alone.

~~**~~**~~**~~

Once alone the anger deep inside the young girl erupted; the book that she'd been so obsessed with was lying in pieces. The pages about sirens had been ripped from the binding and torn into two dozen rough pieces that littered the small bedroom; joining the bit's of glass and plastic from that morning. Bella stretched herself out across her bare bed; the anger still wanted to erupt but no longer had an outlet. Hot tears rolled down her cheeks as she clutched her sheets in desperation, before screaming all she could scream.

It wasn't nearly as satisfying as she hoped for, but it was better than nothing. The anger slowly began to ebb away leaving only desperation and pain in its wake. A feeling worse, by far, then anger. The desperation arose from all the old insecurities that Bella developed growing up, but the pain that welled up was worse. She'd just turned on the only one she'd met willing to help her like a rabid dog.

It was the worst she'd felt in her life.

The siren stayed in bed, staring at the bland white ceiling until she heard the metallic grinding of a key in a lock. "Bells, I'm home," Charlie called from the entryway, hanging up his coat and the holster.

"wonder-fucking-ful," Bella swore, wiping the tears from her eyes. "Hey, dad!"

The slow methodical footsteps of her father wound their way up though the stairs and stopped just outside the bedroom door, "You okay in there?"

No answer.

"Bella?" He called as he rapped his knuckle lightly against the door, "Can I come in?"

"Please don't, I think I'm sick." Bella lied, trying her best to sound sick. She couldn't let her father come in and find everything in the room broken or thrown around. Well she could, but the explanation – she decided, was completely not worth it.

"Alright, let me know if you need anything," Her father said pacing back to his room in the same orderly steps.

"Thanks," she said too low for him to her, "but I can't. You can't help me."

Bella rose slowly from her bed and, as quietly as she could, gathered her bedding from the floor, careful to make sure that no bits of glass worked their way into the bed spread. Once she was sure, she padded back to her bed and wrapped herself tightly in her bedspread before falling into a dark restless sleep.

Sometime later a frigid breeze fluttered through Bella's curtains piercing the heavy comforter and straight into her. Bella shuddered again clutching the spread tighter against her, to no help. Cracking her eyes open, she snaked one had up to the back of her shirt.

No tears, no blood.

_Maybe it was all just a dream_, Bella thought as she rolled over trying to find some alien source of heat. Five minutes of cowering under the covers and shivering were five to many; the brunette slipped her legs over the edge of the bed and down onto her icy bedroom floor. "When'd I open that?" Bella grumbled as she shuffled to the window. She shut the window hard enough to rattle the glass in the frame. That's when her eyes fell upon two floating golden orbs the exact same shade as…

"Alice," she breathed, fogging up the window. Bella wiped the fog away as fast as she could, but it was too late, Alice was gone.

The young girls head spun. There's no way she saw what she just did, it was impossible. Her room is on the second floor and the only tree near it couldn't be climbed. And even if it could you can't just jump off the tree, it's almost twenty feet off the ground, and she would have broken her hip, or her back, or her neck. "No." She said, shaking her head violently. Her feet managed to bring her back to bed, before she collapsed in another round of restless sleep.

The morning came too soon, another day saturated with clouds and rain, but here that was par for the course. Bella threw off the, now, hot comforter with a muffled grunt, when what passed for sunlight worked its way to her eyes. Blinking, realization finally settled into her mind along with it – acceptance.

She looked around the room, knowing that it would be a good idea to clean up before she slipped, fell, and slit her through on the only glass shard in the room big enough to do it. The siren went to work, carefully picking up the shards of glass, most of which stayed within the confines of the frame. She dumped the glass and the bent frame into the small wastepaper basket. Gingerly taking the picture of her and her mother from the baseboard she shook it free of glass and set it on the corner of her desk. The small digital clock was worse for wear but still functional; even with the bits for plastic chipped off the back and a large crack running across the clear plastic bubble. She set it back on the pine nightstand before going across to the hall closet and grabbing a small broom and dustpan. Once the glass and the plastic (and a couple of dust bunnies) were confined to the trash can; Bella's attention turned to the book.

The torn book.

Alice's torn book.

The siren's stomach lurched into her throat. She'd thought it all a dream and here was a simple leather bound book that made reality come through and slap her in the face. She picked up the book, careful not to destroy it any further. She put the book on the other side of desk and started picking up each piece of the pages. There were too many pieces to be able to tape them back together.

_Hopefully Alice will forgive me._ Bella thought as she trudged into the bathroom. She undressed quickly and turned the shower on. Once the water heated and she stepped inside Bella allowed the hot water to just run over her.

There was no hurry to any of her actions; they were slow and methodical as she went about her morning routine. Soap, shampoo, face wash, razor, water off, towel dry, and leave the shower. The siren stepped out twenty minutes later to a bathroom choked with steam and pruned skin. Not that she minded, sooner or later she would have to confront Alice. She ran a brush through her hair before blow-drying it. Still wrapped in a towel she went back to her room and dressed for the day, never glancing at the clock.

Time stood still for a brief moment as Bella held her shirt in her hand, this one free of tears or blood. She closed her eyes and thought about some of the things Alice told her about how naturally some of these things would be to her. Maybe a minute passed before anything happened, but when it did, it was a sensation like nothing she'd ever felt before, but at the same time it felt right.

Her skin slipped aside from just inside the shoulder blades this time without any blood. From deep within her small frame she felt something unfold in the same way she would extend a bent arm after days of keeping it bent. But still she continued, despite the dull ache in what she knew were _her_ wings.

As much as she wanted to she resisted looking at them, knowing they were there and seeing them were two different things. One she could handle but the other was harder and if she fainted again the last thing she wanted was to be found lying face down in pants and a bra with huge white wings billowing around her like a slutty Halloween costume.

Bella pulled them back in shuddering when her skin fused itself back together with a sickening plop. Pulling on her shirt she cast a sideways glance at the clock for the first time that morning.

She was late. She grabbed the backpack she never remembered bringing upstairs and headed for the front door.


	9. Would You Believe Me

**A/N: Wow, less than a week between updates, I've been on a super roll, so with no further ado: the next chapter. Oh and feel free to drop a review, I'd appreciate it.**

Would You Believe Me, if I Told You the Truth?

"Bella, are you alright?" A familiar voice called from across the great chasm that separated the two desks.

The siren was jarred out of her hazy thoughts, her mind once again focused on the droning lecture and the friend leaning over towards her. "Ya, I'm fine, I just didn't get much sleep last night." Bella said inclining her head enough to face her friend and the teacher at the same time.

"Oh, alright. You just seem…I dunno, off maybe." Angela said, leaning over into the isle. She smiled trying to reassure Bella, but it came off filled with uncertainty and unease. "Umm…if you want to talk or anything."

"Thanks." Bella said with a small nervous smile of her own. She wanted to tell someone, get some advice. But, there was no real way to get around the weirdness that came alone for the ride. Instead she took the easy way out with the only other friend…she lied, "but there's nothing really wrong."

"Well I'm here if there is." The taller girl said shifting her attention back to the lecture on comma splices and the more 'advanced' uses of a semicolon.

"Thanks again, Ang." Bella replied turning back to the furious scribblings she'd started to try and keep her mind off Alice and how she'd hurt her. The once blank binder paper had slowly but surely filled up with anything and everything. Random movie lines, song lyrics, band names, characters from books she'd read, and an apology note that could never really be sent. The lecture droned on in the background but she didn't seem to notice it, nothing seemed to matter. Coming to school was, in hindsight, a bad idea, but something that she had to do because she knew no other way to see Alice again and try to apologize.

Soon the words melted completely into pictures, pictures of birds, pictures of bats, pictures of planes. Anything that could fly there was represented on the page, interspersed between the words and in most cases superimposed over them. Soon the lined page turned black under the heavy pen strokes and began producing miniature tears and rips.

"Relax, there's nothing that interesting about semicolons." Angela said with a soft giggle.

"I know…that's why I'm not taking notes." Bella said with a small wink before turning back to the abused page, flipping it over and starting on the back. The back became the closest thing to a piece of art someone with Bella's sever lack of artistic ability. The black pen strokes began forming themselves as a turbulent sea of gray flying low above it were two figures, shadows to be more precise, with the sun to their backs one looked like an angel with wings spread wide in a mid flap, the other was cradled in the first's arms like a baby.

The bell rang shattering the siren's concentration for the umpteenth time that day. Hurriedly she crumpled the paper up and threw it in the trashcan before shrugging her coat on and moving on to her next class.

History came and went in a blur of slavery debate and another picture of the two figures. Only this time they were in a steep climb, the wings on the first figure were swept back in what Bella thought as a menacing pose, so did the second figure apparently. It clung on to the front of the angel, arms locked around her neck just above the wings.

The second drawing was in all aspects better than the first, but of course it was done on a clean sheet of paper and not one where the reverse side was already black with ink. That could have been enough in itself, but the new one had cleaner lines, and twice as much detail, down to individual feathers of the wings making a whole. When the siren finished the drawing she paused for a moment studying the work as if it were in some way prophetic, changing her future because of what she had drawn. Her back started to tingle at the mere thought of flight; Bella crumpled the second drawing as well, abruptly ending the tingling in her back.

Soon she would have to use her new found wings, if only to see if they were as freeing as she thought they were. The siren laughed silently at the déjà vu in her thought. The very same thought she had when she first started driving. Of course that was in no way freeing, because the freedom of driving came at the steep cost of hundreds of individual laws. But the wings may contain the autonomy that she wanted. There were no laws governing people with wings flying. No speed restrictions, no curfews, no height limitations. The tingling in her back reemerged stronger than it ever had before. Bella furiously scratched at her back hard enough and long enough that even through the sweater she could feel tiny amounts of blood welling up to stain the dark material in unnoticeable traces of blood.

Bella managed to force all thoughts of wings and flying into the darkest recesses of her mind where only a handful of other secrets dwelled, trying desperately to take notes on the issue of slavery in the northern colonies.

As soon as she writing the notes on a fresh piece of paper the bell rang again, the entire period passed in what felt like a span of five minutes. The brunette collected her things again, walking across the campus again to sit through pre calculus.

She didn't pay attention there either; the siren had to spend all her conscious effort to avoid making her back tingle. Her will had slipped once when she found herself called upon to answer a question about the equation for a figure she'd never seen before, but in that split second she felt the folds of her back slip open, before she had time to shove all thoughts away.

Bella burst out in laugh that she quickly turned into a cough. It was at that moment she realized what it was guys went through when they were fighting an inappropriately timed erection. That gave her a brief respite long enough to focus her mind on the math that she dreaded. She pulled another piece of paper free from her notebook but had not chance to mar it with ink. The bell rang again, this time seeming faster than it had the last class and the class before it.

Last out the door of the worst class of her day, the young siren faced the hardest decision she'd had to make her school. Off to her right, in front of the cafeteria she could see Angela waiting her arrival; but to her left, was an expansive and shielded line of trees and an entire forest behind them. The siren took one look over her right shoulder before starting for the trees in something that began to resemble a run the further from the campus she got. Lunch provided her with the perfect opportunity to stretch her wings while most of the other students stretched their legs.

Bella broke a sweat as she broke through the tree line. Her paced slowed to a walk almost immediately; too many exposed tree roots and holes that. Coupled with her chronic clumsiness those tree roots would be one fast way to end up with her head bashed in and her next broken. The air felt like cold fire entering her lungs as she scanned the forest around her making sure she was alone. The canopy of tall pines and fir trees gave her cover enough from the rain that she soon shed her heavy ski coat. She'd have to take her shirt off, the siren remembering all too well what happened when a few nights ago.

The forest grew thicker, branches over taking the grey sky and forming a sky of their own deep green. Bella walked on, towards a towering outcrop of grey rock, which would provide more cover against any prying eyes that may have followed her from the now distant campus. The granite looked like it had been drawn up straight from the bones of the earth and filled the young girl with a quiet sense of wonder that it for all real intents was hidden by the tree cover. Whether that was a testament to the forest or the rock, she didn't know.

Once safely hidden behind several thick walls of tree trunks and protected by the granite's cold arms she carefully laid her coat on the driest part of the rock she could fine. The tingling in her back intensified, as if the white feathered wings had managed to gain a life of their own, and knew they were about to be released from their fleshy entombment. The warm wool sweater was the next to be discarded, and instantly Bella regretted that decision. The frigid October hair, heavy in cold rain, pounded immediately against the warm skin, causing wave after wave of gooseflesh to ripple across exposed and protected skin alike.

In a cold induced overdrive the siren thought furiously about her wings coming free in the cold air, but nothing happened. It was like trying to button or tie anything with cold hands, there was no dexterity in them anymore and forcing them to work didn't help. All at once she realized the secret to it all was to do nothing more than relax. Once she did the creases of skin along her shoulder blades parted and the cramped wings began to unfold, all at once tingling as new blood rushed into them and old rushed out. She stretched them as far as she could; feeling every minor movement they made. The wind pounded against them and yet they never once trembled or shivered with the cold, and soon she found her own core warming. Bella drew her wings around the air in light flaps stirring up the detritus of the forest floor. Next a slow steady figure eight movement that made her feel somewhat lighter but never allowed her to achieve any flight. A massive spasm hit her wings and in an instant they went down as fast as and as heavy as they could, spraying dirt all around her and giving her momentary lift enough that when it subsided she came crashing down to the earth with a heavy thud.

A short musical laugh echoed off the rock and flitted around the trees before slowly dying out. It was a laugh that the siren hadn't forgotten, Alice. _What the hell is she doing out here,_ she wondered picking herself off the ground. Her mind began to race, _where is she? Did she see me? Oh god! _The questions were cut short when she realized that she was standing in the middle of the forest in nothing but a bra and a now dirty pair of jeans.

"Hey," Her voice called from a nearby tree as she walked into view. "I didn't scare you did I?"

The color left the siren's face all at once as she moved to cover herself up with her arms; the wings beating them too it. "No, I would have fallen anyway." Bella said now encased in a wall of ivory white feathers.

"I didn't mean to bother you, but I'm normally the only person who wonders around in the forest at lunch." Alice said, setting a white terrycloth towel on a nearby rock before sitting down.

"It's okay," Bella said with a meek smile. "I'm sorry, about yesterday I mean."

"It's okay, I more than understand. I should have been a little more delicate with my answers." Alice said flashing another one of her patent pending glowing smiles. "It seems like you're doing better though."

"I think so, but honestly; I still expect to wake up in my bed in Phoenix and find out this is all nothing but a giant dream." Bella said sitting on the rock nearest to Alice.

"I don't think it is," Alice replied with a short laugh, "Because it would, naturally, be my dream."

"Oh, well then, it must be real." Bella replied, shifting her eyes nervously around the forest.

"Don't be paranoid, there's no one watching us." Alice said noticing the siren's exaggerated looking around.

"You know, I thought that too, and then you showed up." The taller girl shot back with mock annoyance. "Hey, since we're both here, and probably alone; will you answer me a question?"

"I'll try no promises though." Alice answered with a wink that she translated into something closer too _I'll tell you what I think you should know right now._ It was her own selfishness bubbling out of her care for the new siren.

"How did you know; about what I am?" The brunette responded nervously causing a slight ripple to course through her wings.

"That, Bella, is a very long and complicated answer that I doubt we'll even begin to have time to answer in the five minutes before we have to start heading back before lunch ends." Alice answered, attempting to dodge the question.

"Spark notes then." Bella shot back not giving her friend time enough to get up from her seat.

"Doesn't exist for this particular story." Alice said adding a coy smile.

"Fine." Bella said throwing her hands up in annoyance only to have them stopped by the wings she'd forgotten were wrapped about her. "But I will get an answer."

"I don't see why not. Meet me back here, today after school and I'll give you the entire answer. No cliff notes, no spark notes, the complete unabridged one thousand four hundred and eighty-four pages. Deal?" The pixie said, picking up the towel and pulling a clear trash bag from the middle of it.

"Deal." Bella said standing from her own rock and letting her wings fold back into the confines of her back, before she hurriedly thrown her shirt and jacket back on. Starting back towards the school, she found Alice keeping pace silently beside her. There was another intangible presence coming from Alice that made her feel more and more at ease since her first run in at the supermarket almost a week ago.

"See you in chemistry." Alice said when they got back to the campus proper, before she peeled away from the siren and toward two people that looked strikingly like her and yet completely different at the same time. They all had the same translucent white skin, they were all inhumanly perfect, and all had the same piercing gold, but the facial features, height, weight, and hair color were all unique. They must be the mythical siblings that she'd heard about during her first day. As she joined them all three immediately dropped their voices to barely above a whisper and continued moving in what seemed like a rehearsed formation through the school.

~~**~~**~~**~~

The rest of the day passed easily enough and at the same time it seemed to drag. Even chemistry with Alice's stabilizing presence felt the same way. The only saving grace was that the exercise she went through seemed to have stretched her wings out enough that they didn't bother her in any way for the rest of the day. Likewise the drawings that she'd accomplished and subsequently thrown away did not appear to her again. No figures floating through a mist or soaring above a rolling grey ocean. She'd somehow managed to go another painful day through PE relatively unharmed, though there were a few people worse for wear because they'd been standing in the wrong place at the wrong time when someone had the misfortune of hitting the ball anywhere near her.

But soon the day mercifully ended and the young siren once again found herself crossing the large open field behind the school heading towards the woods that were far less imposing now than they had been earlier that morning. The rain had once again lightened up in the afternoon as she both hoped and suspected; it had also risen a few degrees in the three and a half hours since she'd last been there, negating the need for the jacket to do more than keep the little rain from soaking her to the core. Though the forest had become more familiar the miniature mountain of granite still unnerved her but that was for slightly different reasons. But the unease gave way when she saw Alice sitting on the same towel, on the same rock, and in the same position that she'd been in that morning.

The pixie waved one hand in an exaggerated motion that most rescue victims use to signal a helicopter. "I thought you weren't going to show up." She said in the most accusatory voice she could.

"Really?" The brown eyed girl responded with one eyebrow arched, taking off her coat to sit on.

"Are you really that gullible?" The golden eyed girl asked with a small smile that still gave off the same warm glow as its older sister.

"Not all the time, but right now, I am." Bella said shifting her eyes lower and lower until they rested firmly on the deep brown of the forest's dirt.

"It's okay Bella." Alice said placing a gloved hand on her friend's shoulder and giving it a gentle squeeze. Even through the heavy leather glove and the heavier wool sweater it still felt cold, but the cold that she'd come to expect from Alice's reassuring touch. "Didn't you want to ask me something?"

"Oh, right!" Bella said, completely jolted out of the innocuous insult that she wrapped her mind around. "So spill, missy!" Her own joke didn't make the siren feel better, but made the vampire let out a short chuckle.

"Wow, you're so bossy, sometimes." Alice said, feigning a bit of hurt. "So if there's something you want to know, you can ask me nicely." With a short huff and an out stretched tongue; she turned away from her ripping her hand away from the taller girl's shoulder.

"Alice." Bella began in the sweetest voice she'd ever managed in her entire life, "Would you please tell me how you know." If the voice wasn't enough to melt the vampire's icy heart, the brunette rested her chin on the spiky haired girls shoulder. The contact was almost too much for Alice to handle and all at once she found venom pouring into her mouth that she quickly sucked down, gritting her teeth against the overwhelming scent.

"Lemme ask you a question first." Alice said wheeling around on her stone seat so quickly that her face came within half an inch of Bella's. She heard the blood flowing just under the surface of her neck like it was Niagara Falls. It was too tempting, her head snapped back to a much safer distance, she till heard it, it was still there, but her control could be held much longer from just the foot that she moved back.

"Sure," Bella said, her brow knitting when she saw Alice's reaction.

"Would you believe me, if I told you the truth?"

The question hit the siren like a rubber duck filled with sand. It hurt a little, but at the same time she didn't understand the question. The words she understood, they were simple, barely above a first grade level, but the way she put them together made no sense. When someone tells you the truth you believe it. That's why it's the truth. When Bella did finally answer the question her voice wavered, "Yes,"

"Yes, what?" Alice's voice shook a bit with rage.

Bella wasn't sure how to respond, she was talking to a different Alice. The playful and cute friend was gone, and was replaced with something that resembled a demon "Yes, if you told me the truth I'd believe you."


	10. The Answer Lies Within

**A/N: Should your muse descend upon you please feel free to write a review, if not, then enjoy the new chapter.**

The Answer Lies Within

The ground beneath the siren's feet moved too fast for her to keep sure footing amongst the rocks and the exposed roots that cluttered the supposed path she was dragged along. Her wrist, arm, shoulder, back, hips, legs, knees, and ankles all ached from the pace that her friend was pressing upon her. On more than one occasion Alice would turn around to make sure that Bella wasn't hurt and her wrist wasn't bruised, but the intensity in her face never left it merely tempered with compassion and concern.

"I'm sorry, for back there." Alice said when she finally stopped, letting go of Bella's wrist, not turning to face her. "I just didn't think that was the right place so I took you to my favorite thinking spot." Alice added, turning, with a small smirk that had erased the pensive and tension filled visage.

Bella, unsure how exactly to respond, so she didn't, stood her ground waiting for Alice to come through on her promise. Alice didn't. After ten minutes of solid silence Bella did finally chime in "Alice, what the hell's going on. You tell me you can tell me after school, so I meet with you; then when I ask you make me swear I'll believe you and then you grab my wrist and drag me to God only knows where."

Alice's eyes dropped to the dirt beneath her feet as the taller girl's words landed. It took all of her will not to fidget and even then, though she didn't have to, the vampire started rubbing one thumb against her palm. "Bella, I'm sorry. I, um, I've never had to tell anyone this kind of stuff before…" Alice broke off finding something very interesting on her hand again, giving Bella the first glimpse of Alice's true character.

She was more than just the light hearted girl who seemed to have all the answers and a shoulder, no matter how cold, to cry on. Standing before the siren in the clearing was a girl with just as much insecurity as every other teenage girl. A smile crept onto the siren's lips as she crossed the small meadow and wrapped her arms around Alice. The confidence that seemed to ooze from every pore of Alice seemed to evaporate around when she was around the siren. "It's okay."

The words true rang through the pixie's ears, it was okay. And even if it wasn't Bella would help it be okay. Those were the visions she'd denied, she knew the two of them would be close, but she never knew how close until that moment. "I know. I just…Why don't we sit down?" Alice said motioning towards a large tree.

"Sure," Bella replied pulling away, her arms lingering slightly longer than she intended. She lead Alice this time and not by the wrist, rather with more force of will. They kept an even pace to the tree, though it was only a short walk the heaviness they were both projecting in the air made it seem like a hundred years.

Alice spread out the towel, on top of Bella's coat just to be safe. "Where do I start?" Alice asked in a whispered, she would have given anything at that moment for her visions, especially after yesterday, and lunch, and a few minutes ago. Damn near everything she'd ever done around Bella had turned out to be the wrong decision and she desperately didn't want to screw up again.

"Try the beginning, always works for me." Bella said placing a reassuring hand on her enigmatic friend's shoulder. "If you don't like that; start wherever you feel comfortable."

Alice leaned in to Bella's warm hand trying to figure out exactly where to start. She did after all take the pixie's word about being a siren; the display at lunch was proof enough for that, but she was still apprehensive. "I asked if you'd believe because, I don't believe it half the time, but I have this, this gift. Well it's not always a gift; actually half the time it seems more like a curse, especially recently…" Alice scrunched her mouth shut before any more idiocy could escape between her lips. "I'm sorry, I'm rambling I don't normally do that, but there's nothing normal about what's going on right now, and oh god I'm now rambling about rambling will you please stop me already."

"Alice Cullen, you will stop rambling this instant!" The siren replied with mock anger. "Don't rush it." Her voice dropped all pretenses of anger. The stress Alice was felling rolled into Bella like waves crashing against a cliff.

"Okay," Alice started bowing her head slightly and closing her eyes, "from time to time, I've been known to get glimpses of the future. And lately I've seen a few of you, you being a siren."

Bella tilted her, raising an eyebrow "You, can _see_ the future. Like it comes to you in a dream or you have visions. Were you in an accident and see people future when you touch items that belonged to them?"

"Like visions, it's really not that exciting to look at. I don't thrash around and I don't feel anything in my vision, it's kinda like watching a movie in your head." Alice said trying to figure out how much to tell her at once. Yes she was a big girl and deserved the truth, but at the same time scaring Bella now might push her over the edge into the abuse of her powers. And that would be the exact opposite of what Alice was trying to do.

"Wow, that went from really cool to slightly lame." Bella said a moment later, flashing Alice a small shit-eating grin, causing both to break out in a fit of laughter that seemed to melt the tension away.

"Glad to know that seeing the future is lame."

"Well it wouldn't be if you could see something cool, like the winning lotto numbers."

"I'll give you that one," Alice said between giggles, before regaining her composure to speak again. "I'm sorry, by the by."

"What for?"

"Everything, for following you in the grocery store, for being outwardly forward yesterday, for dragging you up her without telling you. It's just that my visions normally tell me how to act to get from point A to point B the fastest and most efficient way. But when you're around they just disappear, and I feel like I'm wandering through a maze without a map." Silence fell when Alice finished, both were surprised by the small epiphany that Alice had.

The younger girl tightened her grip on the vampire's shoulder. The simple gesture communicated more support than any words would at that moment. The two natural enemies sat there in the rain and in the cold watching the clouds darken in preparation of more rain and another lengthening night. Neither of them spoke, they didn't have to; Bella remembered reading somewhere that almost sixty-five percent of communication is non-verbal. At the time she didn't believe any of it, but she was soon realizing how much could be said in silence.

The afternoon light started to wane casting twisting shadows off the trees as the clouds grew darker; threatening another storm.

"We probably should get back; it's almost six." Alice said standing up.

"What? Really, it's that late?" Bella said, throwing herself up to her feet, "I need to get back and cool dinner. Oh, do you want to come for dinner?"

"No thanks," Alice replied, "I have my own family to get back to. Some other time maybe?"

"Yeah, sure," Bella said as she shrugged her coat on. "One question, how the hell do we get back to school?"

"Got lost?"

The siren nodded twice, letting out a long sigh.

The golden eyed vampire shook her head, "C'mon, let's go, lucky for you I remember the way back." Alice led Bella back to what passed for civilization on the same path that they had taken to get up there. This time, the pace was steadier and no one dragged the other over the treacherous forest floor. Three times on the walk back: Bella caught her foot underneath an exposed tree root and fell, and the same three times Alice caught her before she could smell the wet earth. After each trip and catch the taller girl would always erupt in a blush and stammer out an embarrassed 'thank you.'

The longer the walk took the less either of them wanted it to end. But, Alice mused, all good things must end sooner or later. And they did, as soon as the half paved half gravel parking lot came into view, the only two cars left in it were Bella's red monstrosity of a pickup truck, and a mirror finished Volvo. "Your car?" The brunette asked gesturing to the car beside hers.

"Nope, my brothers, he's studying abroad this year so I get it." Alice lied flawlessly, making a mental not of it in case her family ever had to cover why Edward wasn't around anymore.

"Oh cool," Bell said, trying to stall the conversation as long as she could, "well I guess I'll see you tomorrow then."

"Of course," Alice replied, giving Bella a quick hug, before jumping in her car and starting the engine, and leaving the other girl momentarily stunned.

Once Alice drove past the city limits she floored the accelerator and got home as quickly as she could. Bella hadn't notice that her eyes had gone completely pitch black. Or had she? The thirst, the hunger, was gnawing at Alice's mind, slowly reducing it to that of the blood-lusting predator that lived within her. She pulled into the driveway, killed the engine, and disappeared immediately into the forest surrounding her home.

As she ran through the forest the small vampire realized on some level that staying as long as she did with any creature who's blood smells half as good as Bella's was a major mistake. Walking back to the parking lot Alice had to drive off thoughts and images of Bell lying dead at her feet, neck ripped open, and warm sticky red liquid running down the back of the vampire's throat. She felt herself began to wretch when the smell of blood still under the surface slammed against her nostrils like a hurricane.

She ran toward the animal, elk by the smell, and moments later drained it of every last drop of blood. Once the animal's tepid vitality settled in her stomach a sense of relief washed over her, evaporating the guilt over what had not happened. The beast that lived within her was only ever temporarily satiated and the vital serum now working itself through her stony flesh would not be enough to quell the hunger for very long. Alice delved deeper into the forest looking for anything else with even drops of vital liquid in it. A mile down wind where more elk, a mating pair, but they were dispatched and drained of life before they knew what hit them. The pixie jumped on top of the female's back, snapping its neck in a sickening crunch that reverberated throughout the forest. The male turned to flee as Alice pushed off of the first elks back landing with a predatory snarl, wasting no time in sinking her teeth in the thrashing animal.

The small vampire misjudged the placement of the carotid artery in the beast's neck, clipping it with the edge of her canine, spraying hot blood all down her front in bright crimson streaks paled to a ghastly white in the diffused twilight. The lust for the kill abated the vampire stalked back to her second kill and drained it slowly, savoring every drop of the sweeter female.

~~**~~**~~**~~

"Bella, is everything alright?" Charlie asked as his daughter cleared the plates from the kitchen table. Never one for small talk Charlie would have gladly let the subject drop, but the fatherly part of him wanted to make sure his daughter didn't resent coming back to Olympic Peninsula.

"Yeah," Bella lied, "Just trying to get used to being back." The answer was simple, direct and did nothing to make either of them feel more at ease. The distance between father and daughter grew. A big part of her wanted to shake Charlie and demand he tell her everything he knew. After all, if the videos in Sex Ed were true, the father played a big part in creating a child. He had to know something about it, right?

"I know I haven't said it before, but I'm glad to have you around." He said, picking his own plate off the table and setting it on top of the other dishes in the sink.

"Thanks;" Bella said, unsure of the proper response; managing a weak smile, "I'm glad to be back." She went to work drawing a hot water bath for the soiled dishes, adding a healthy amount of dish soap as she did.

"Bells I know you weren't feeling well yesterday, if you want I could finish up here." Charlie said, slipping his arm around her shoulder in an awkward incarnation of a hug. He couldn't do much more than offer; he'd been too long removed from her life to really try and talk to her, even if he was so inclined.

"I got it dad, it's kind of relaxing." Bella said ringing soapy water from the sponge. She started scouring the bottom of the lasagna pan, peeling off bits of baked on cheese with her fingernail.

"If you're sure…"

"I'm sure. You've had a long day, go relax dad. I got it." Bella said all but pushing him out of the kitchen. Doing the dishes was, in a weird way, relaxing. It gave her a mundane and repetitive task to occupy her time; a welcome respite from all the weirdness that recently cropped up in her life. The dishes didn't take half as long as the siren would have liked. She took her time drying each one, carefully making sure that each one didn't have a speck of water on them, before putting them back in the cabinets where she found them.

Back pack in hand, the brunette stalked upstairs to try and lose herself in a stack of chemistry homework that had been seriously neglected in the few days she was there. She regretted not taking the easy way out and going with biology instead, there was no math involved there. But then if that happened she wouldn't have a class with Alice and that was enough to make all the math worth it. A smile leapt to her face at the thought of the golden eyed girl who was the real (and more plausible) Johnny Smith.

Bella shut the door and slumped into her desk chair with a heavy sigh. The day had taken her out of her, using major muscles she didn't even know she had, literally; not to mention the emotional roller coaster that was Alice Cullen. The last thing she wanted to do was homework, but it held the same boredom and simplicity that the dishes did. Besides, balancing equations didn't seem that hard, but in the same way that moving mountains doesn't seem so hard. Two hours and three chewed through pencils later, she managed to finish her homework without causing a stroke.

She pulled herself out of the chair on shaking legs and collapsed on her bed, staring at the ceiling listening to the rain softly tap against the glass of her window. The patter called to her, leading her out of her bed and to the window. Bella placed a hand on the cold window feeling the wind call to her. She ran to wall and made a semblance of a body using the comforter and the pillows. When the siren was finally satisfied that it could fool her father (if he looked in on her) she went straight for her dresser.

Searching through the bottom drawer of her dresser, the one where she threw the things she'd never really need. Backless shirts, the one she owned, were at the top of that list. But after a few minutes of throwing clothes around the drawer she spied the bright orange shirt shining through the other mute colors. Tossing her sweater to the bottom of the closet, the siren pulled on the backless top, shivering at the sudden lack of warmth. Finally she grabbed a belt and hoodie from her closet; using the belt to secure the sweatshirt around her waist.

Ripping the window open, Bella had second thoughts as the wind and rain whipped through her room, tossing her hair around her. Ignoring the rational parts of her mind, she began unfolding her wings, once again feeling the familiarly foreign splitting of the skin along her shoulder blades. It was too late to turn back; she cautiously placed one foot on the window sill. The other foot joined in on the small ledge, bringing her into a low crouch.

Bella closed her eyes and rocked forward the ground suddenly rushed up the meet her but she brought her wings out in one quick motion first acting as a feathered parachute, extending the free fall, and then they started to beat in long lazy patterns that allowed her to hover between the floors of her house. The beatings increased in both number and strength until the siren was able to achieve true lift. She folded herself into a streamlined position before adding forward motion to her hover. She dodged the closest tree with ease.

Her dream had come true, at least part of it; she finally had some grace to her. She struck out in a sharp climb, passing through the trees like they weren't there. When the trees were nothing but a distant memory below her she passed in slow circles over Forks, realizing how much smaller it looked from just a few hundred feet in the air, only a few lights struck out against the dark sea. Outside of the town she circled another house's light broke through the darkness. In a quick bank Bella had taken off to see the house the light was coming from. She began to climb again, realizing the higher she went the less effort it took to maintain speed.

The house passed in a faint blur as Bella felt drawn to something past it, something that was deep in the forest. The darkness of the night didn't bother her as she found the spot that drew her in; she circled the area twice, looking for a decent clearing to land in. Once the siren found one that she could fly into without breaking her neck on a tree, she tilted forward in a gentle dive and descended to the forest floor. Once Bella passed the tops of the trees she pulled out of the dive, letting her wings splay out again like a feathered canopy until her feet touched the wet earth below.

She undid the belt around her waist and pulled on the sweatshirt shivering against the damp material. She kept her new appendages hidden in the depths of her back, in case whatever she was searching for turned out to be a run of the mill person.

The ground squished softly against her feet as she followed a small creek further downstream letting the reflected town lights guide her.


	11. Was it Fate?

A/N: Yeah, so I meant to update last week but I got caught up in another story and lost track of the days. Then I kinda got hit by a massive writer's block this weekend so...yeah. That's it. Here's the next chapter without further wait.

* * *

Was it Fate?

The light drops of rain continued to fall in a mist slowly beating its way through the overlapping canopy of black leaves. The small vampire still covered in elk blood lay motionless along the bank of a small stream listening to the water trickle across the rocks – disgusted. Disgusted that she wanted to tear her friends throat out, disgusted that she had lost enough control to miss the artery in the neck, and disgusted that she couldn't force herself to waste the blood by washing it off. The rain was too light to wash the blood off, but enough to keep the blood from drying into an unappetizing husk.

Alice wanted nothing more than to throw herself into the stream until the blood was washed from her body and flowing far away to be deposited somewhere deep in the ocean. Far enough away that she could forget the feeling that was deep within her. The soft rustle of leaves that cut through the silent forest did nothing to rouse the depressed vampire from her depression. The rustle didn't belong to the wind, they were footsteps; soft, tentative footsteps.

The footsteps slowly grew closer, shuffling along the forest floor closer to the sullen pixie. The light in the forest left much to be desired by the siren as she crept through, hoping that the next step wouldn't be a hole.

It wasn't, but it wasn't much better.

Her toes caught the top of a fallen branch sending the near blind Bella crashing to the forest floor. She groped around in the darkness trying to find something stable enough to haul her to her feet, her fingernails dug into a moss covered tree trunk and slowly she came to her feet. The siren realized just how bad of an idea it was to come out into the forest at night without as much as a flashlight to help her see.

The forest closed in around her, smothering her without ever directly touching her. She couldn't see the moon, the stars, or even clouds; nothing but the forest's ceiling. Bella's heart began to race; her breathing came in shallow gulps of cool air. Her world began to spin beneath her feet and before she knew what she was doing; her legs were carrying her as fast as they could through the thickets of trees, gliding effortlessly over the obstacles that had proved more than hazardous a few minutes before. The siren found a small stream and unconsciously began following it away from its source, slower her pace once again to a slow walk until they turned into hesitant shuffles through the leaves.

The scent that had put her into this position hit Alice suddenly, but she still didn't move. _It's just a sense memory_, the vampire thought as she dug her hands into the soggy earth; _she's not really here, she can't be here._ _I can't, I won't let her see me like this._

The soft shuffling of feet through leaves changed into a soggy stomping through water, as Bella abandoned the treacherous forest floor in favor of the somewhat safer stream bed. The rain slowly lightened the farther she went along the stream with feet slowly freezing in the water. In the back of the siren's mind she knew she should fly back home immediately before she killed herself in the middle of nowhere, but she couldn't turn back now. She couldn't fathom why, but she had to keep going. Another ten minutes passed walking through the bitter creek before she stopped again. The canopy formed by the trees wasn't as thick where she was now and she could see the break in the clouds allowing the soft sliver light of the moon to flood the forest around her.

The vampire had managed to get to her feet and started the long trudge along the stream that would soon get her home. Soon taking most of the night, as she decided to forego the enhanced speed that belonged to her kind; favoring the walking speed of her prey. Alice kept her eyes fixated on the ground not wanting to face the world as she glided along the bank of the stream. For once in her unlife, she paid no attention to anything around her, or her visions, that still remained conspicuously absent from her mind.

The light in the forest waned again as another massive black cloud eclipsed the moon. Once again Bella had to stumble and group her way through the stream, in the near pitch darkness. She hurried her pace once again, hoping that before wasn't a fluke and she could manage to move through the dark woods without killing herself. With a quick hop she was once again out of the stream and walking on numb feet that was more of a stumble than a walk.

A dark figure came towards Alice, utterly unnoticed by her, and collided with her in the inky blackness of the night. A deep primal growl escaped from her chest as she leapt back away from the form. She landed without a sound in a low crouch, legs coiled under her ready to pounce on her potential attacker. Her eyes scanned the forest around her, bringing everything into sharp relief as she focused on the dark trees. The scent of the forest clouded her nose with the heavy smells of wet earth and decomposing leaves, and the silence of the night pounded against her ears like a thousand drums. Out of the corner of her eye she saw the form, cloaked in the shadows, regain its footing.

She pounced, putting every ounce of strength she could muster into her legs.

A shriek echoed through the forest as Alice made contact with the shadow; driving them both to the forest floor. She kept the advantage, pinning the creature to the ground, another guttural grow rising up from her chest; eyes clouded in pure blood lust. She felt her mouth move towards the reservoir blood hidden by the thin layer of skin. Eyes, the color of liquid gold, locked onto the soft brown of the animal beneath her, as her teeth grazed the surface of her prays neck. She felt no fur of the figure beneath her.

She wasn't about to kill an animal; Alice was about to kill a human. And few sane humans would be walking through the forest in the middle of the night without so much as a flashlight. That left only, "Bella," the vampire breathed pulling her teeth away from the girls neck.

"Alice?" The siren asked in sheer disbelief and terror, "What the hell are you doing?"

"Oh my god, I'm so sorry." Alice said jumping off of the younger girl and backing up into the harsh shadows created as the moon escaped from the confines of the cloud that had hidden it.

"Did you just try and bite me." Bella said as a statement and not a question, finally regaining her feet beneath her.

"I'm sorry. I just…you…there…I didn't…I didn't know it was you. I swear, I didn't know it was you." Alice said, sinking against the trunk of a dead pine tree.

"So if I'd been someone else, then I'd be laying her with my throat torn out. Is that what you're saying?" Bella said her voice starting to waiver as the fear and adrenaline finally caught up to her. Her back itched in a subtle warning that she should in all likelihood leave.

"Yes, no, no; I mean no. I wouldn't have, I told you." Alice said, burying her head in the palms of her hand, refusing to look up. The guilt that had been eating at her for hours returned, magnified a thousand fold, as she fought not to look into the eyes of her friend.

"Then what the hell was that?" Bella asked as tears started to fall from her eyes, "Tell me what just happened." The tears that fell were not out of fear or sadness, they were tears of anger. The natural anger one has for someone who tries to kill them, as well as tears from a sudden realization that the one

"I can't…I won't." The vampire said turning her back to the siren, "I don't want you to know, you'll hate me. I know it." Her mind continued to loop the attack over and over again, each time making it seem that the vampire knew who the target was. That a part of her had always known it was Bella. The truth of what happened got lost in the fog

"Well I'm starting to already. Alice, you tried to kill me. What am I supposed to think?" The siren said quiet confidence creeping into her voice. She kept her ground, not moving an inch forward. The tears continued to stream from her eyes, but the crying had not invaded her voice.

The pixie didn't respond right away, she just rocked herself slowly hoping that this was only in her head. "I'm sorry." Alice whispered again. They were the only words she could say, and they didn't say enough. She couldn't even bring herself to tell the siren what she was sorry for.

"You've said that already." Bella said taking a sure step forward. "But what you haven't said is why, you did it. That's what I want you to tell me." The tears had stopped, leaving only salty trails along her cheeks. Her confidence continued to build.

Alice made no effort to respond.

In that period of silence, Bella figured it out, "you aren't human either, are you?" She said walking even closer to the vampire. "Or are you not going to answer that question either?"

"No."

"Fine, but I thought you were my friend." Bella said, ripping the soggy sweatshirt off of her. She should have listened to her instincts in the first place, than she wouldn't have had to deal with her Alice lying to her.

"No was my answer. No, I'm not human." Alice said, still whispering, and fighting back the violent sobs that threatened to over taker her at any moment. "I just don't want to tell you what I am, I'm afraid that it'll make you hate me."

The honesty and vulnerability in the small vampire's stopped Bella immediately, her wings freezing as they began to unfurl. She turned on her heels and went back to Alice. The moon had been covered again leaving the two of them in complete darkness. "Please, tell me. I won't leave." The sincerity in the Siren's words managed to surpass Alice's.

"Do you promise?" Alice asked facing the siren but keeping her eyes from making contact with hers. All of the vampire's confidence had eroded away in the space of a few minutes. A short time for a human, but for her it was nothing; not one breath, not one blink, not even one beat of a stopped heart.

"Alice," Bella started, taking a seat on the wet earth beside her. "I promise." The siren draped a warm arm around the small girl's shoulder; pulling the raven haired girl, who's normal spikes were plastered against her scalp, in close.

~~**~~**~~**~~

The dawn sun burned through the clouds, casting a brilliant array or reds and oranges on the small town. The people went along with their daily business: children went to school; their parents to work, and everyone went along their lives. All of them enjoying the rare autumn sunshine and the warmth it provided. The light beamed off the stone buildings casting the city in a warm glow that belied its darker nature.

"Ah, if it is not Edward. How are you, my son?" A soft voice spoke, reverberating off the polished marble of the cavernous room. A few lit candles scattered about in massive candelabras bathed the chamber in a sickly yellow light. The shadows thrown off by the candles gave a sharp relief to the vast murals and frescos showing a history of art as they marched from the middle ages and into the Renaissance. Hidden within the paintings existed a history that would make for fantastic fairytales, except of course they're real. Displayed proudly across the walls were the histories of the vampires. Or what the rulers, the Volturi wanted the history to be.

"I've been better Aro." Edward said addressing the figure seated in the high backed throne in the center of the room; bowing his head slightly as a sign of respect to the elder vampire.

"Oh? I hope there is not a problem at home?" Aro said his pallid red eyes boring straight through the younger, "Or is that why you have come, to take me up on my offer? There's a position for you here whenever you want it."

"Yes, there is a problem at home, and I've carefully weighed your offer and I'll accept it; if you help deal with said problem." Edward said raising his head up to meet the gaze of his elder. He could hear the gears grind to life in Aro's mind.

_What could be so great that young Edward would finally accept my offer? It must truly be terrible, indeed._ Aro's thoughts rang through the telepath's mind, but he kept his face free of any emotions, that could give him away.

"Come; tell me what ails your family back in America." The red eyed man said, standing from his throne for the first time. Aro, once upon a time, had been an imposing figure. His inky black hair was pulled back away from his face in a single braid that hung neatly between his shoulder blades, accenting the pale crimson eyes and almost translucent skin. He was quite tall for his day standing most of six feet with broad shoulders, but as the world changed around him he stayed constant. Now instead of being a fearsome looking predator, he resembled a man of both average height and weight; leaving nothing but the air of confidence and sheer presence to make him both feared and respected.

"There is nothing that needs to be said, Aro." Edward said stepping forward offering his hand, palm up. "See for yourself."

Aro descended from the low platform where he'd been seated on the polished gold throne, both holdovers from the days of monarchs. Gently he laid his hand upon Edward's outstretched hand. The flood of memories poured from young into old. Most of the memories were nothing but a wash of unfettered emotions: anger, pain, and loss among them. But deeper down there was a keen memory of a family around a grand dinner table, but not at dinner.

A meeting. The ancient vampire delved even deeper listening to Edward's memory of the conversation. Talk of a girl named Isabella, but not a girl, not a human girl at least. Then the most important and devastating flitted through the memory.

Siren.

"Edward, you are of course still welcome to join us, but I'm afraid that Alice and the rest of your family are wrong. There are no sirens, at least not anymore." Aro said, removing his hand, and placing it motionlessly at his side, "All the sirens that lived have all been killed. Most of them exterminated by the Guard; the final one at the turn of the twentieth century in Romania."

"Aro, I've seen it, let me show you." Edward said calling up the memory he intended to show the Volturi. The bronze haired man stretched his hand out again.

"Edward I have seen enough," The elder said his voice icy and distant. "I am sorry you wasted your time here, you are of course free to leave, but there's nothing more I can do on this siren business." Aro turned away from the younger vampire and carefully strode back up the few stairs to his throne.

In an instant several of the lit candles were extinguished letting off faint columns of smoke. Edward moved with all of his speed up the same stairs catching Aro by the hand, forcing the memory into him.

_The night was perfectly black; the cloud cover overhead swallowed the lights from the city. The rain fell in sheets bending the tree branches under the weight. The tall bronze haired man sat crouched in a tree outside of a small house on the outskirt of town. He watched as the siren readied herself for bed, focusing on her thoughts and hearing nothing. Instead he listened for any signs of Alice, coming back to take her normal vigil outside the girl's window. _

_She never came._

_But Edward continued to sit, unmoving, on the branch. He heard everything beyond the thin single paned window in front of him. Every breath, every shuffle, every note._

_Every note._

_Without thinking she'd started to whistle some nameless song. It was the most beautiful thing he'd ever heard. He ached to get closer, to hear it; to hear her sing. To hear her sing for him. His fingers dug in to the wood underneath him, fighting to remain in control of his reactions._

_Then it stopped. As fast as she had begun to whistle, the now haunting melody, it disappeared without any hesitation, and she went to sleep._

_Went to sleep without realizing what she had done to something she couldn't see. Edward's ears burned as he leapt from the branch to the small ledge at the base of the window. He slid the fingers of one hand underneath the edge of the window and eased it open. Careful not to let it make a sound that would wake the sleeping girl._

_He slipped in her room completely undetected and stood over her, trying desperately hard to force his hands into action. She was dangerous and he was the only one that could stop her. His family stopped listening to reason, so it was solely up to him to act. _

_He brought his hands down to her neck, letting them hover inches above the warm skin of her throat. Then he remembered the song and he couldn't; he had already been bound by her and could no longer kill her, no matter how desperately he desired to._

_Edward heard the siren stir beneath his hands. He couldn't risk being caught, not now, not like this. A single leap took him from her bedside back to the scarred tree branch. Before he could take another leap he turned back once more to the window in time to hear the siren whisper "Alice."_

_But before the sound from the words could die in the air Edward had already made a dash for the cover of darkness._

Aro's eyes grew wide as Edward released the strong hold around his wrist. "You're right Edward, something must be done."


	12. Caught in a Web

**esA/N: Okay, so I think an explanation on my part is due, brought on by a serious lack of reviews by what were constant reviewers, and I think I know why. A lot of stories in the Alice/Bella Section have a tendency to turn out to be friendship stories or what not and I fear that some of the readers believe the same thing. It's not. Yes, it is a slow build because I think it makes it more real that way. I think this based on my own philosophy of love which I adhere to rather strictly. It goes something like this: two people regardless of who they are can fall in love given the right set of circumstances. I find that in more improbable situation romance may stem from something like friendship rather than something like infatuation. This concludes the longest Author's Note I've ever written or will write. So I'll leave it here with a simple request to please review if you're so kind.**

**P.S. I'm making a shameless plug for a poll I have in my profile here…so go vote or something.**

Caught in a Web

"You're a what?" The siren said quirking an eyebrow and giving her friend a sidelong glance. The night's cold continued working its way into Bella, who'd been forced to once again release her wings to stave off the cold drops of rain that cut into her like miniscule razor blades. She kept them wrapped tightly around her in a long feathered gown, trapping whatever heat they could and providing some of their own.

"For the third time," Alice began in an exasperated sigh, "I am a vampire." She enunciated every one of the last four words so sharply that they easily rang through the darkness around them. The soaked vampire wrapped her arms around her waist, fist clenched, in sheer frustration.

"Now when you say vampire; you mean _vampire_ right? Fangs, no sunlight, drinking blood, sleeping in a coffin, that kind? Not the Hot Topic vampires, who wear ungodly amounts of makeup, drink tomato juice and call it blood, and pretend that it's cool?" Bella said with the tiniest hint of playfulness in her voice. It was one thing, in her mind, to believe that the pixie sitting next to her could see into the future; but the notion that the same friend who never seemed much different than any other person she knew was killing and drinking the blood of them seemed too farfetched.

"More the first kind than the second, but even then not so much." Alice said adding her own hints of playfulness to her voice. "Look, no fangs!" She gestured to a wide, fangless, smile. Bella took a closer look leaning closer to the vampire's mouth; sure enough no fangs even her canines were blunt.

The siren leaned even closer, much closer than necessary to check for fangs, she just felt silently drawn to the smile that glistened in the low light. Alice couldn't resist it any longer. She quickly lurched forward snapping her jaws close to the siren's neck with a sharp crack. The siren pulled back as fast as she could, losing her balance in the process, and falling on the flat of her back. "Oh, I'm so sorry." Alice said, moving to the fallen Bella in a blur of movement.

"For the record, that's not funny." The younger girl said, accepting Alice's cold hand. "What about the other things?" She asked trying to wipe the sticky mud off of her back. She scooped off a large handful and held it in her hand for a moment, wondering how the shorter girl would react to a handful of mud in her face. Not well, she decided, and simply dropped the mud back on the ground.

"Sunlight's a problem, but it's not like the movies where one step into the sunlight and we burst into a giant fireball. I'll show you sometime if you want." Alice said, scooping a glob of mud off one of the siren's shoulders. "And we don't sleep in coffins, actually we don't sleep period. Kinda handy sometimes, actually." Alice trailed off ignoring the completely obvious and most important aspect of what she was.

"What about the blood? Or have movies gotten those wrong too?" Bella asked sitting back down at the base of the tree they'd both been sitting at before the pixie's _joke_. She patted the soggy moss next to her and gestured Alice to sit again.

"Nope, Hollywood got that right. We need blood to survive, simple as that." Alice said plopping down on cold moss with a small squishing sound, drawing her knees into her chest. She gazed into the depths of the forest, not wanting to look at Bella, "You've seen the blood, still can actually." She gestured down the front of her shirt at the fresh spatter trapped in the threads.

"You're right, I can. So what did you kill?" Bella asked like she'd just asked to borrow Alice's chemistry notes.

"You mean you aren't afraid?" Alice asked in complete amazement. She never thought that the siren would ever take this news so well. Even in the dreams that replaced her visions, the vampire only ever imagined shock and horror.

"Alice, if you wanted to kill me I'm sure you've had plenty of opportunities before now, and last time I checked you haven't killed me. So no, I'm not afraid." Bella said reaching a hand out of the blanket of wings and placed it gently on Alice's knee.

"Not a person, if that's what you're wondering." Alice said, flexing her knee into Bella's warm hand, "I never much cared for killing people."

"So what do you–"

"Animals, predators mainly, but I can say that when I'm really hungry I'm not all that picky." Alice said, answering the question before it was even finished. She remembered the time where should could have answered the question before it was even asked.

"So what was on the menu tonight?" The brunette asked, blood welling up in her cheeks, a byproduct of the unfortunate choice of words.

"Elk," Alice said without fanfare, curling up against the warmth of Bella's wings. She'd given up on hiding anything from the siren, instead she'd lie all of her secrets out and pray that Bella wouldn't turn and run. She wouldn't be able to handle that, she'd become more attached to the siren without ever realizing.

"Are you cold?" Bella asked, bringing Alice out of her momentary daze. Just in time for the vampire to realize that she'd been shaking.

Why had she been shaking? It couldn't have been the cold, the cold never bother her; one of the perks of having no body heat.

Anger? She didn't feel angry, but never that night had she felt angry. Alice felt disgusted, pained, and fearful.

Fear! It had to be fear, but fear of what. Earlier she'd been scared of hurting Bella, because she might lose control. But that fear faded as she fed, that's when the disgust had settled in. But the fear had come back as she pounced on Bella, scared once again that she'd hurt the brunette. But this new fear, the one that made her shake, lived deep within her. The primal fear was nothing more than the fear of loss.

"Alice, are you cold?" The brunette asked again, gently nudging the vampire once again out of her daze and into the real world.

"I'm always cold." Alice muttered to herself and gently shook her head against Bella's shoulder.

"You don't have to be you know." Bella said much to the vampire's amazement. Alice looked up at the siren's face unable to read anything in the almost remote look in her eye.

Alice opened her mouth to speak but didn't have time to form the right words, when something of a warm blanked wrapped around her, drawing her closer to the siren. The vampire looked down, amazed when that one of Bella's faintly luminous wings was tightly wrapped around her. Golden eyes searched desperately for some hint in their chocolate brown counterparts, but they remained distant. If it could have, her heart would have started beating its way out of her chest.

_You're reading too much into this,_ her mind scolded her. But surely there was something more here than just concern for the vampires comfort. It seemed a long time since Alice had allowed herself to dream, to fantasize; it had taken only a few days of seeing the girl beside her to decide that she was in love. Love, it seemed like such a dirty word for the better part of a hundred years because it had been conspicuously absent for all those years. The pain had lessened once she'd found the Cullens, then she'd managed to have a familial love, but the pain still drove its way through her like a hot iron. All that seemed to change once the siren entered her picture.

For two months she allowed herself to make believe that she was in love with someone that loved her back. It didn't hurt that Bella played through her head all day every day, and when she concentrated she could gain answers to questions in her visions; simple questions like 'how was your day,' or 'are you alright.' Things that Bella would tell her mother on a daily basis. But once Bella came to Forks, Alice couldn't keep up the charade anymore. All she could do was resign herself to the belief that Bella wouldn't love her.

But a simple gesture changed it all. Would she have felt the same way if the younger girl had put an arm around her shoulder? Or shared a blanket? Honest answer: she didn't know. But the spike of pain in her heart had been removed and in its place was a shard of hope. Hope that maybe she'd been wrong that Bella _could _love her.

She pressed her eyes harder into the taller girl's face; she just needed a clue, a hit; something, anything. And it wasn't there; Bella's gaze was a million miles away from the two of them, and as inaccessible as it had been. Breathing a silent sigh; Alice closed her eyes, once again living in her fantasy world where love was no longer an evil thing and she had someone. As fleeting as it was, it made her happy.

Bella's gaze slowly moved from the surrounding woods down to the pixie snuggled deeply into the warmth of her wings. The searching look in her eyes was gone, they were shut; her breathing was deep and rhythmic. _Had she lied about not sleeping_, Bella wondered, _or is she pretending._ Either way, it was as close as the siren ever thought Alice would be. Her wings were amazing, she decided, not only could they keep her constantly warm when they were unfolded, but they also steadied her heartbeat. Something she constantly seemed to need around Alice.

The siren looked down at the head floating on the top of a mountain of white downy feathers. Keeping in a laugh, she wondered for a minute if that's what she looked like when her wings wrapped around her. Her thoughts soon turned back to the torrent of emotions that Alice always invoked in her. Confusion, happiness, comfort, friendship, and love. Love always seemed like the odd one out, it didn't seem real, but it was a constant presence that she could never truly quantify, but she didn't want to quantify it. Because that would open the door to pain, and pain was something that she – like everyone – wanted to avoid when at all possible. As long as it stood on the fringes of her mind it didn't matter that Alice didn't feel the same way about her. She could still be happy and enjoy the company of the pixie, and never once feel sad that she wanted more than she could have.

Soon her eyes got the better of her and she sank back against the mossy tree trunk and dozed off into a light sleep. The forest was once again silent, swallowing all other noise letting the siren and the vampire rest, free from the world around them.

Alice cracked her eyes as she felt the siren's heart slow and her breathing become long and even. It was just how Alice imagined as she sat outside her window night after night. At least now she could feel it as well as hear it. Her eyes tracked up past her neck, resting finally on her relaxed face; the beauty was plainly there in the skin and the bones but didn't look like it was ever nurtured to the surface. Alice held back the urge to brush a finger against the warm skin of her cheek, but decided against it.

Too risky, she reasoned. She went on to plan B, she moved her head higher up, resting it a few inches away from the taller girl's resting her head against the moss.

Bella was keenly aware of the proximity of Alice's face to her own. She shifted her own head slightly, closing whatever miniscule distance remained between the two of them. She sighed, a dreamy sigh, resting her warm forehead against Alice's icy counterpart.

Taken slightly off guard by Bella's seeming boldness, Alice moved her lips fractionally closer and closer to the other girl's, unconscious of her actions. Her mind had all but given up control to her body. Brushing her lips slowly against Bella's.

Slipping quickly out from her light slumber the siren closed the remaining distance between the two of them. Brushing her lips slowly against Alice's.

All at once the world stopped for both of them. Their minds went blank. Breathing stopped hearts along with it. The world, the universe, consisted of nothing but that one moment in time.

Then reality crashed its way in shattering that delicate moment. Each jumped back out of the others closeness, ashamed of what just happened.

In a flash they both disappeared into the night. Alice charging at full speed for the sanctuary of her room, where there were doors that could be locked behind her. Where she could attempt to make sense of what she just did, and what she might have just ruined. She lithely darted between the trees closing the distance between the stream bank and the large house in only a few minutes. The door flew open and close as she rushed right past it, up the stairs and into her room, locking the heavy door behind her, and collapsing motionless to the floor, in soggy clothes.

Bella disappeared straight into the air, reaching forward for the safety provided within the clouds and the mist that had proven to be a comfort, as she few back home, with all the speed she could manage. She wanted, desperately, to figure out exactly what happened, what she did. How she did it, but more importantly she had to know just how Alice would respond to it. She felt a tearing pain in her chest at just the thought of pushing Alice out of her life with a single, momentary, indiscretion. She finally found her house through the clouds and descended quickly moving through the open window before collapsing on the bed, wet clothes, and all.


	13. Above the Waves

**A/N: So I wanted to finish this yesterday, but my muse took the weekend off, so here's the next chapter a day late but not a dollar short. If your muse doesn't do the same to you consider dropping me a review. Enjoy!

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Above the Waves

For three days it hadn't rained.

For three days it hadn't even been cloudy

For three days it had been sunny.

And for three days she'd not seen Alice.

For the siren that was a record. Since she'd moved to Forks the longest time she'd gone without seeing Alice had been that first night, and looking back on it the vampire might have seen her. But those three days had been the hardest of her short life. The thought of that night by the stream had continued to gnaw its way through her, and out the other side. In her mind it would go down as the biggest mistake she'd ever make. It would almost surely push the vampire away from her, stripping away the only friend (and person) in the world who knew what she was.

She stirred restlessly from bed and stalked over, for the third time that morning, to the window. Hoping that the other two had been a dream and that the cold cloud cover had returned, it would be the only way she could see Alice, she had to talk to her. Apologize, beg forgiveness, repent, atone; any of those she thought would be a good place to start. But no regret existed deep down; her body had betrayed her reason, but not her heart. True, it had only been a little over two weeks since she'd first run into Alice at the pharmacy but something had almost drawn her in even there. Even when she burned with anger towards her, she wanted her company.

It bordered on the mythical love at first sight. Of course love at first sight didn't exist; it was in the realm of faeries and unicorns – and vampires – so maybe it did exist. Of course it was far more likely that it would turn unrequited. Because there was no way that anyone near Alice's beauty could be anywhere approaching single. _And even if she was,_ the brunette thought as she chastised herself, _there'd be no way she'd go for someone like me._

Peeling back the light drapes sunlight flooded through the dark chasm of her room. A single tear formed in her eye but was blinked away before it could ever fall.

_Maybe tonight,_ Bella hoped_, maybe she'd come tonight. _Alice knew where she lived, why couldn't she just show up tonight and they could talk? But that would require that the pixie had any want to see her. Bella sulked away from the window in slow heavy steps and went to her closet. She dressed and readied herself for school. "At least today's Friday." She muttered leaving her room.

She ghosted through school, there, but in body only; nothing more than a walking shadow. She idly took notes, not paying attention to the short quick strokes of her pen against the paper. The voices of her teachers passed through her head never stopping long enough to string words together to make sentences. She managed more idle chitchat with Angela and her friends, giving them the same treatment she gave her teachers; nodding and laughing in all the right places.

By the time the final bell rang the siren had given up on trying to make any sense of what the people were saying to her, she just ran for her truck. Thinking that the old steel behemoth could somehow snap her out of her world, she turned on the engine. The roar of the ancient engine failed to drive the thoughts away from her as she headed home.

~~**~~**~~**

Four days, four long days.

The sun slowly drove the vampire to the brink of madness, threatening at any point to push her over into the pit. That night, still played through her mind; over and over and over, and when she thought there was no way she could see it again it played over in her mind. She could go see her. She could wait until the sun sunk beneath the horizon and drive to her home. But Bella wouldn't want her there.

She'd lost.

Game over.

Move on.

She stared out the large plate glass window as the sun started to peak over the trees. She tried to move away from the window but her feet bolted themselves to the floor. Out there somewhere past the seeming endless expanse of trees was the siren. She felt it as she closed her eyes, desperately trying to catch a glimpse of her in a vision. After what felt like hours of trying she finally did; and hated what she saw.

The vision was simple: Bella in bed, sheets pulled above her head, crying. Over what, Alice had no definitive answer but her mine supplied it. Bella was still crying over that night, she'd hurt the siren too much. There would be no twilight drive to her, no conversation, no apology; she should just give it up.

But what was it? Her friendship, no it was deeper than that. Her company maybe that was definitely part of it; but it wasn't all of it. She couldn't dance around the subject any longer she knew it that night almost a week ago: love, in a way that still seemed to escape her ken. Not that it mattered, unless the love in the piece of beef jerky she called a heart was in no way romantic. But the pixie knew that wasn't the truth, wasn't even close to the truth.

And that made everything harder. A big part of her wanted to go back to being ignorant, before the kiss, before all these stupid feelings of love resurfaced in her. Something she'd successfully repressed for more than forty years. But with the visions of her the feelings of love tried to gnaw their way out of the deepest prison that she built for it. It sounded so corny in her mind to even think of it like that, but the truth is the truth. No matter how stupid it is sometimes.

The realization didn't make her feel any better, less confused perhaps but it still hurt. She stood in front of that window until the sun finally sank into a new bank of clouds as it worked its way to the west. Once the sun was far out of sight and hidden in the bank of light grey clouds Alice finally unbolted her feet from the floor and headed out into the forest, heedless of the worried looks of her family.

Once away from the house the vampire caught a scent on the breeze that sent her into overdrive. It was faint but she still was able to pick it out of the hundred other smells that worked their way through the dense woods. Alice pressed on, weaving in and out between the trees getting closer to the warm smell that sent venom into her mouth.

"Bella," she whispered into the empty forest around her, it was the unmistakable smell she went to. A few short moments later Alice stood on the bank of a familiar stream, but with the light she saw it for what it was. It looked a Thomas Kincaid wet dream; the dark blue water tumbled over a series of rocks that filled the area with the soft sound. The towering evergreens framed the small clearing along the stream's bank, shadowing the small patch of grass and wild flowers. At the base of the furthest tree lay a soaking black hoodie. Skipping over the brook Alice continued following Bella's scent to the hoodie where it ended.

She'd known the scent was faint, but there was still hope, and now hope faded to nothingness. Gently picking up the soaked sweatshirt with a steady hand she slowly brought it to her nose, sniffing it lightly. Alice ripped it away when she realized the absurdity of what she was doing, sniffing a discarded sweatshirt. If that didn't scream obsessed stalker the vampire didn't know what would.

After she managed to ring all the water out of it and fold it, she laid it gently against the base of _the_ tree. And sat next to it on the grass that she once thought was moss, closing her eyes.

~~**~~**~~**~~

By the time the sun finally hid behind a blanket of clouds Bella had managed to wear a rut in the floor of her room. She'd spent the majority of the only sunny Saturday she'd seen since coming to Forks and she didn't spend it outside. The siren spent it going stir crazy because she knew as long as the sun was out she would never in a million years see Alice. Four day's had been long enough, whatever was going to happen just needed to happen.

The siren wrote a hasty note for her dad, leaving it on the refrigerator (who was out fishing with someone she didn't know) before changing into the same backless shirt she'd worn a few days before. She'd washed and dried it, making the fraying bottom even more evident. The same thing with the jeans she wore: the bottom hem had already thinned on one leg and began to fray on the other. At this rate they'd be no more than rags with only a few more flights. Then what would she do, it's not like it would be practical to fly around naked. The last image brought on a blush that turned her face beat red. _No one would want to see that_, she thought as she checked herself in the mirror, before belting her jacket around her waist.

Bella stuck her head out the open window, making sure no one was around, satisfied that the street next to her house was completely deserted she flung forward through the window unfurling her wings faster than she'd ever done before and barely had to think of it before her wings had started beating harder, pulling her up in a rapid climb. The siren swung wide of the town to keep from being noticed still in her climb racing for the cloud cover. The wind whipped her hair around her face in the few places that it hadn't been blown straight back. The mist from the clouds bit into the skin of her face, forcing her to fly below the safety of the cloud cover, but she'd managed to go far enough away from town.

She started looking around for that house cut out of the forest, just to get her bearings. If she wanted to make it back to the stream where she stood the best chance of finding Alice she would have to retrace her steps, or her flaps, exactly. Of course finding the stream would get her to the pixie any faster.

After flying large circles for the better part of a half hour she finally found the mansion that seemed hacked from the forest itself. She couldn't see a road running away from it, but she did see something that looked like a driveway cutting through a stand of trees. She banked towards the ocean descending a few hundred feet looking for anything resembling running water.

"It'd be easier to find this place at night." She said into the deafening wind. Then she felt it more than she saw it. Bella felt the place she'd landed; it was a small opening in the midst of a few trees that were in all ways identical to the others that made up the Olympic Forest. But these were different, at least for the siren. She set down between them and recognized the area immediately. It had a feeling about it, more than the way it looked. She found the stream without any problem and followed the azure water downstream. She shrugged on the coat and stowed her wings deep within her back.

Her legs burned beneath her when she finally found a spot that looked familiar. She walked in and knew immediately she was in the right spot; something in her gut told her she was right spot. But Alice was nowhere to be seen.

"Knew it." She scoffed to the stream.

"Knew what?" A soft voice asked behind her.

The siren shrieked and spun around on her heels, slipping on a patch of loose earth, finally tumbling backwards into the stream. Her butt absorbed most of the initial shock of the impact, the pain compounded by the icy water of the stream. Before she'd even managed to catch her breath a familiar face came into view. "A – Alice," she choked out.

The pixie held out a hand which Bella gratefully grabbed on to and let the smaller girl haul her out of the stream. "Th...Th…Thanks," she said through chattering teeth.

"You're welcome. I'm sorry" Alice said, taking a step back from the water's edge. "Are you okay?"

The siren went to work immediately peeling the wet jacket off of her, revealing the frayed shirt underneath that had receded another inch since she put it on the last time. Her hands ached and refused to work the way they should. And for whatever reason her wings would not move out of her back to warm her, they kept themselves locked away within her skin. "It's okay; I'm fine, just cold." The siren replied trying to control the full body shivers and chattering teeth.

"Do we need to talk?" Alice asked; eyes locked on the soaked figure in front of her. The pants that were clinging to her like a second skin, a top that was too thin for Washington and was wind-whipped to nothingness long the bottom, revealing smooth white flesh, and hugging every other curve.

"I think we do." Bella said, clenching her teeth so they wouldn't rattle as she talked. She inclined her head towards the nearest tree where, she guessed, the vampire had been sitting against when she walked up. The both sat facing each other, legs crossed beneath them.

"About what happened," Alice said looking down to avoid meeting in the Siren's eyes.

"I'm sorry!" They both said in perfect unison. Alice froze, after hearing what Bella said. Bella pulled back slightly cocking her head to one side.

"Wait, why are you sorry?" The siren asked, knitting her brow.

"You first." The vampire insisted.

"I…uh…um…you know," Bella said her cheeks flashing red, she squeezed her eyes shut, "kissed you."

"No," The other girl said, "I'm pretty sure that I kissed you."

"Really?"

"Really."

"I don't think so. I remember leaning my forehead against yours and then we…"The siren blushed again, leaving her sentence hanging in mid thought.

"Kissed, yes, I was there. And you didn't, I leaned my forehead against yours and leaned up." Alice corrected with what she believed was the truth.

"Okay, so if I kissed you and you kissed me…does that mean what _we_ kissed?"

"Um…I think so, but only if you want to say we did." Alice said, unsure of the words coming out of her mouth.

"I do! I mean, only if you want to say we did." Bella said her face bordering on purple with the intensity of the latest round of blushing.

"So, we kissed?" Alice asked.

"Yes, we kissed." The siren responded; chewing her bottom lip like it was her last meal. They both fell into arguably the most uncomfortable silence of either of their lives. They watched as the last light of the day faded away from the forest. Everything began to seem familiar once again, and they each started inching closer to one another until their knees bumped.

Their heads shot up and their eyes met, and in that moment words seemed of no importance, they both knew what the other was thinking and feeling. Eyes have always been the window to the soul, each decided in her own way. But in that moment they realized exactly what that meant. They were a language all their own. Their hands met at the joined knees and twined themselves together. Warm against cold.

Slowly their heads drifted towards the center until once again, their foreheads met sending a tingling excitement through each of them. What came next was obvious; they leaned forward more until their lips met for the second time. Each of them were hesitant at first, searching for one another's intentions, but the inhibitions slowly melted away. Slowly they broke away from each other, realizing that they each had unconsciously wrapped their free hand around the other; Alice's around the nape of the siren's neck Bella's around the waist of the vampire.

"Bella," Alice whispered, "Are you still cold?" The vampire took the sound of fresh chattering teeth for an answer. She pulled off her own dry jacket, and draped it across the younger girl's shoulders.

"Thanks," Bella smiled and pulled the suede coat closer to her, "do you know why my wings aren't working."

"Silly," Alice responded with a small smile, "Wings don't work when their wet." She slowly took to her feet, keeping the siren's hand in hers.

"Really," Bella asked coming to her feet, knees wobbling under the surge of adrenaline. Alice started walking away from the stream, pulling on the taller girl's arm until she got the idea and walked beside her.

"I dunno, probably."


	14. I Walk Beside You

**A/N: Sorry for the semi-delay, crippling writers block again. Anyway, here's the next chapter. Thanks to all of you that review and put up with less than precise updates, means a lot!**

I Walk Beside You

"Alice, where are we going?" Bella asked stumbling over another log, never faltering for more than a moment before a cold strong hand appeared out of the gathering mist to hold her up. Alice's jacket was too small for her but after the walking it kept her fairly warm. She could have easily been toasty warm but the vampire's icy hand in hers sent a constant chill down her spine.

"I dunno, just felt like moving. Or maybe I just wanted to get out alone." The pixie replied shifting her eyes from left to right and back again. Her face remained straight.

"Wanted to get me alone, huh? We weren't alone enough back by the stream in the middle of million square miles of forest." Bella asked shooting an accusatory glance at the vampire. The accusation faded away in short order.

"Nah, you're alone enough for whatever I wanna do to you." Alice said with a wolfish smile and the smallest hint of a wink. Letting go of the siren's hand she flitted away through the forest a few paces ahead of Bella; skipping from one rock or fallen log to another.

"And what is it you want to do to me?" The brunette called after her, but it seemed too late. The rising mist gave the vampire all the over she needed to slip out of site, leaving Bella standing alone in the middle of the forest. A sudden agonizing stab of abandonment went straight through her heart. It became tough to breath, her heart threatened to pound its way out of her chest. Her fingertips went numb and her knees threatened to crumble beneath her.

A pair of arms wrapped themselves around her waist helping to steady the wobbling siren before she so much as dipped toward the ground. "I dunno." Alice whispered into her ear, without looking one hand moved up to the siren's face slowly wiping them dry. "But giving you a heart attack definitely wasn't part of it." The playfulness in her tone slowly morphed into a more sullen tone. "I'm sorry, Bella."

"I thought you left." Bella said her voice shaky. She tried to pull out of the vampire's embrace but Alice's grip stayed tightly wrapped around her.

"Bella," the raven haired vampire started, gently kissing the taller girl's neck, "I wouldn't leave you like that Bella. I promise." Another set of tears tracked down Bella's cheeks; she choked back a few heavy sobs that threatened to come out. Alice turned the younger girl towards her as gently as she could.

When their eyes met the siren couldn't hold back any longer. She broke down: tears streamed freely down her cheeks, her body was wracked with wet sobs, and she came close to losing control of her stomach. Bella buried her head deeply into the shorter girl's neck and let everything come out.

Alice didn't say anything; she was far too confused for words; she simply waited. The crying only lasted a few minutes more; Bella collapsed soundlessly into the vampire's cold arms, tucking her head in the crook of Alice's neck. "Bella, what's wrong?" Alice whispered to the motionless siren.

"I dunno," the siren replied her arms wrapped tightly around the vampire's middle. "It's just that since I got here my world has been turned completely upside down and I don't know what to do and the only person in the world who understands me and that I trust and like is right here and when you left…I guess I just thought the worst. Like everything that's happened was just a lie and I didn't like that."

"Bella, I'm so sorry, I promise, really promise, I won't leave you like that again. I mean it with all my heart and whatever is left of my soul." Alice said, kissing the top of Bella's head. She pulled the siren closer, slowly rubbing her back in soft circles.

"You promise?" The younger girl asked, her voice that of a child. She tilted her head to meet Alice's golden gaze, the pain ebbed away faster than it should have; no longer did she feel alone and pain, she felt safe.

"I promise; I just wanted to go ahead a little bit to make sure it was still there." Alice replied, picking the siren up, cradling her like a baby.

"What was still where?" Bella said wrapping her arms around the vampire's neck, moving closer to her. Before the vampire could even answer Bella's eyes were closed, her head buried again in the crook of her neck.

"One of the most beautiful things I've ever seen in this forest." Alice said, moving into a light jog that made the trees of the forest fly past them.

"Then I take it they don't have mirrors in the forest." The brunette blurted without even realizing that Alice probably didn't have a reflection.

To her relief the vampire giggled, looking down at her, "nope they don't generally unless someone brings one into the forest with them. And I should have qualified it by saying that it _was _the most beautiful thing in the forest. And it is, unless you're her." Her arms tightened around the girl cradled in them for a moment. She didn't bother looking down to see the blush that spread throughout the younger girls cheeks.

Bella was speechless; there's no way someone as flawless as Alice would have called her beautiful. It seemed to her like a giant oxymoron, she wasn't beautiful and surely not the most beautiful thing anywhere outside of a leper colony. "If you say so."

"I did say so, and I meant it too. You just may not realize it, but you are." Alice said, slowing her pace. She set the siren down easily on the ground, helping her find her feet beneath her, "This is what I wanted to show you." Taking Bella's hand the vampire led her easily through the thick forest.

"What is this place?" Bella said, raising her voice trying to hear her own words over low roar that seemed to have sprung from nowhere. The vampire refused to answer with anything more than a shit-eating grin and a wink. The taller girl gripped the stone hand harder and followed. Soon the thick forest thinned enough that the younger girl could see what Alice was talking about.

A river threw itself over a series of large rocks each producing its own distinct sound, all of them melding together to produce a symphony of water that the young siren had never heard before. The fine mist cast off in the low light of the sunset, shrouding the rocks in an ethereal haze that looked something that couldn't be real.

"Alice," Bella said her eyes unblinking, "it's amazing."

"I thought so to," Alice said slipping free of the siren's hand, slowly wrapping her arms around the taller girl's neck. "I had to share it with you." The vampire closed her eyes, resting her head on the siren's shoulder.

The two stood there watching the water fall over the rocks until no light was left in the sky. "Alice, are you okay?" Bella asked after realizing that Alice hadn't let go of her in more than an hour.

Alice picked her head off the siren's shoulder for a moment, "I'm scared…" she said; her voice trailing off, never finishing her thought. She closed her eyes and lay her head back down on the siren's shoulder.

"Of what?" Bella asked tilting the shorter girls chin up. She wasn't lying; the fear was plainly evident in her eyes living in the deep golden pools like a shadow. Even for someone as bad at reading people as Bella, it was obvious.

Alice shut her eyes again; she couldn't bear to look the brunette in the eye as she spoke. Something about Bella's deep brown eyes forced her to tell the truth. Not a normal trait of a siren if she remembered correctly. "Of you," her voice waivered, "of me, of my family, of not being able to see anything in the future, of what you mean to me, of what I hope I mean to you. Right now of everything in the world." Her words poured out like water out of a bursting dam, but she was beyond caring. Everything else was happening fast, so why not this to?

"Alice, I had absolutely no idea, why…why didn't you ever tell me any of this?" The siren asked, gently stroking the vampire's hair.

"Because I was scared you'd freak out or something and…and I just didn't know if I could handle it. You mean a lot to me, right now, it seems like everything so forgive me for being an idiot." Alice said, lifting her head up, and cracking her eyes open enough that she clearly see the love and warmth in Bella's eyes.

Bella's eyes brimmed with tears, once again she threw her arms around Alice and pulled her as close as she possibly could. "Alice, don't apologize now, you don't need to. Besides you mean the same to me, that's why I panicked when you left earlier. I hated the thought of you leaving me like that, so suddenly. Part of me knew you'd be back, but this small voice in the back of my head started telling me that you'd left and were never coming back."

"Since we're being so open right now, may I tell you something?" Alice asked, as she shifted herself slowly so that she was in front of Bella; arms still wrapped tightly around the taller girl's neck.

"Always, you don't ever have to ask." Bella said, leaning her forehead against the other girl's.

"Bella, I think…I know I'm falling in love with you." She replied, pressing her lips to the hollow of the taller girl's throat.

Bella's jaw went slack; it took a conscious effort to close it again; a myriad of thoughts raced through her head. _Was she serious; was this a game; what do I say; how do I speak; do I feel the same way; of course I do; how do I tell her; will I sound like an idiot, probably._ "A – Al – Alice," she stuttered, finding the ability to speak again, "I – I –uh – um – uh – I'm – uh – falling in love with – you to." She couldn't believe what she was saying, let alone that she meant every word, and every stutter.

Alice looked up, at her with childish joy dancing in her eyes. She couldn't believe what she just heard; all the dreaming, and wishing, and hoping, and fantasizing had paid off. It wasn't a pipe dream anymore; it was reality. "Really?" she said her eyes wide with excitement.

"Yes," The siren said in a firmer voice this time, "hell, I'm not even falling; I'm already there." Bella was sure that any moment she'd wake up and they'd still be sitting against the mossy tree by the stream; there was never a kiss, never an absence, never a second meeting, a second kiss, no waterfall, and certainly no mutual declaration of love. The brunette wished, suddenly, that she knew some way to tell if something is a dream; just to make sure.

Alice smiled wide, showing all of her blinding teeth, and squealed. Keeping her arms locked firmly around Bella's neck; the vampire hopped up wrapping her legs around the siren's back, sending the slightly larger girl staggering back into the trunk of a tree. She locked her golden eyes onto the warm brown ones, holding them there for a short eternity.

Bella wasn't precisely sure what the hell was going on, but it seemed that the next move was hers. She kept her eyes focus on the feral excitement she saw in Alice's; she moved her lips forward meeting Alice's cold ones. The passion and raw exhilaration was nothing that either of them had felt ever before, the kiss deepened. Alice took the initiative again: darting her tongue into the Bella's warm mouth. A low moan of ecstasy pushed through the siren's mouth, completely muffled by the vampire's lips; sending the pixie off her perch of control. She pulled her head back, away from the brunettes; her lips turned up in a wolfish smile as she looked over the flushed and panting Bella. With a small shift of her weight she fell backwards, taking the siren with her to the forest floor.

As the two crashed to the ground Bella sought out Alice's lips again, finding only air; the vampire had other plans. The shorter girl rolled them both over pinning the siren's hands over her head. She sat on the younger girl's chest looking her over; slowly she slid her body down until she hovered just out of the reach of Bella's hungry lips. With her free hand she gently cupped the siren's face, running her thumb delicately over the other girl's cheek. She brought he lips down trailing soft kisses along the helpless girl's jaw up to her ear, nibbling lightly on her earlobe before turning her attention to Bella's long pale neck. Heedless of how much the siren squirmed beneath the vampire's hungry touch Alice continued. Alternating from feathery kisses along her neck, to slowly running her teeth across her throat; stopping at her pulse point feeling the blood racing just under her cold lips. Another soft moan, barely above a whisper, escaped Bella's lips; spurring Alice's advances.

Alice continued trailing down to the base the younger girl's neck before pushing aside her coat, kissing down her shoulders and across Bella's collarbone. She didn't stop for too long her motions had become more hurried, frantic, hungry. She worked her way to the swell of the siren's breast when she stopped, every fiber locking into place. A deep predatory growl rumbled through the vampire's chest, her face turned to Bella, "I'm sorry, Bella, I have to go." Alice said, lifting herself off the young siren, "I really am." She spared one final caress of the Bella's cheek before disappearing into the dark woods.

Bella was left alone in the middle of the forest, her face still flushed, her breathing still ragged; but in spite of the rather abrupt ending she felt satisfied. She stretched languidly along the cool earth wanting nothing more than to stay there until Alice came back to finish what she started when the sharp cry of a wolf broke through her haze. She sat upright, already tugging at the suede coat away from her shoulders. A second cry answered the first, this one much closer to the siren; she managed to get the coat off and her wings out by the time the third cry echoed from the surrounding trees.

She took to the air as fast as she could, her wings flapping in short blurred motions leading her through the trees to the night sky above her. Bella spared a glance downward at the now crowded glen below her. Four massive wolves stalked around the spot where she'd just been laying, their muzzles turned down, and then in perfect unison they tuned up sniffing the air. The siren could feel their eyes staring at her as she broke through the canopy and headed straight home.

"Was that her?" A young man asked standing in the tracks that had moments before been wolf tracks, "Was that the siren?"

"It must have been," A second answered shifting from wolf to another young man, "How many humans do you know that fly?"

"That's beside the point," A third said, larger than the other two and more heavily muscled. He picked up the discarded coat bringing it to his nose, "This smells like leech to me." He tossed it to the first who in turn sniffed it and tossed it to the second who tossed it to the fourth that had finally phased out of his wolf form. They all nodded slowly, the sickly sweet smell covered every inch of the coat.

"So which one is it?" The forth one asked, scratching his head.

"That's the million dollar question. But you're going to find out, Jacob." The third said tossing the brown suede to the first wolf to shift.


	15. Blank Slate

**A/N: So it turns out that this weekend is my one year anniversary of finding FF, regardless of what my profile says. So I wanted to post something this weekend in, since it was a year ago that I spent my Thanksgiving weekend staying up 'til the wee hours of the morning reading, I figured I'd stay up this time writing. Anyway, enjoy the new chapter, and review if you feel like it.

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Blank Slate

"Bells, you awake yet?" Charlie asked, knocking lightly on his daughter's door. He hadn't gotten in until one that morning, but early riser that he is still beat his daughter out of bed. The cloud cover had returned starting the previous night and now it seemed that four days of sunshine was only a distant memory. Deep within Bella's room he heard the shuffling of sheets and knocked again, "Bella, you up?"

"Sure, dad," his daughter said in a muffled and groggy voice, "I'll do it in a minute." Sleep had come back into her voice and he heard a muffled yawn and more ruffling of sheets and blankets.

"Go back to bed Bells." He said with a light chuckle, turning away from the door and heading down the stairs.

The moment the siren's head hit the pillow again she was out. She'd made it home hours before her father but had only gotten to sleep an hour before the sun came up behind the thick blanket of clouds. All that happened in the forest that night continued playing over and over and over in her mind. First the bit with Alice, she was now positive that it wasn't a dream, the pixie had really said that she was falling in love with the siren, and Bella said it back. Afterwards she was fairly certain that Alice's lust got the best of her; not that the Bella had minded. But what stuck out were the wolves, she saw something in their eyes, something at she couldn't explain. They seemed human or at least something less feral; as far as she knew wolves had been hunted out of the forest at the turn of the century. She also knew they had her scent – and Alice's too.

Wiping the sleep from her eyes and the string of dry drool off her chin, she threw the covers off the bed and looked at the clock. It wasn't past nine in the morning. She'd barely been asleep two hours before Charlie had decided to wake her up. She strung together a series of curses that would offend most sailors.

"That's not a very nice thing to say about your father, your grandmother, and her dog." A soft voice said, causing Bella to spin around to face it giving her ample time to trip on her own feet and fall face first on her bed.

She recovered fighting the sheets, that decided to take her prisoner, off. She tilted her head towards the sound of the voice and was greeted by a smiling face with golden eyes framed with a mess of spiky black hair. "Alice!" She squeaked, trying to keep her excited voice as quiet as she could, "How'd you get in here? More importantly what are you doing in my closet? Most importantly why'd you have come when I woke up, I'm hideous."

Alice stepped silently out of the siren's closet, shutting the sliding door behind her, "I thought Charlie might come in, and I didn't think it would have been good to have him find me sitting under your window, your open window; which, as a matter of fact, is how I got in. And no, you could never be hideous to me." She said with a huge smile; coming to help Bella untangle herself from the malevolent bed sheets.

Bella, once free of the evil sheets, threw her arms around the shorter girl's neck out of excitement just as much as to hide the blush that had risen to her cheeks, "What are you doing here?" She asked, trying to keep most of the excitement out of her voice.

"I just came by to apologize for running out on you like I did last night, I shouldn't have and I'm sorry." Alice said, placing a quick peck on Bella's cheek.

"I forgive you," Bella said, returning a kiss to Alice's cheek, "But only if you tell me why you left in such a hurry." She pulled the vampire down on her bed, keeping her arms locked around the vampire's slender neck.

"Two reasons," She started, cupping the siren's face gently in her frozen hands; sending a tingle throughout Bella's body, "And neither of them are your fault. There are more than vampires and sirens in the world. There are also werewolves, which as far as I know are the last of the supernatural, and generally wolves and vampires don't get along. Kind of like Underworld with more teeth and fewer guns. I heard some last night, and I panicked, I didn't want them finding us in a rather compromising position." Alice pressed her lips softly against the siren's, a spark of passion rippled between them making it difficult for Alice to pull back. "The second, and by far the worse is that my control was slipping. I was only a moment away from hurting you. It's what I get for not feeding, before seeing you."

"Did you feed last night?" Bella asked, her lips turning up in a coy smile, her eyes shimmered with fire.

Alice flashed a predatory smile of her own, showing her glistening white teeth, and nodded once; though her eyes answered just as well. She didn't say another word; the vampire just pressed her lips once again to Bella's, slowly tenderly. Letting the passion between them build naturally, not the rushed artificial passion of the night before. Fed the pixie could focus on emotions and the enjoyment that each touch of the siren brought out in her. There was no fear in her mind that she could lose control this time.

Bella felt this too, only she didn't consciously recognize it; to her it was just as electric as it had been a few hours before. One hand worked its way from Alice's neck, planting itself in her nest of silky hair and pulling the pixie in closer. Her other hand trailed down the light material that made up Alice's shirt, when she found the hem, she lightly pushed it up exposing the hard smooth skin beneath it.

The heat from Bella's soft hand threw a wave of pleasure through Alice's cold body. She pulled her lips away from the younger girl's, staring into her eyes. In her inviting brown eyes, the much older girl saw a mixture of love and lust that easily mirrored her own. Bella wanted nothing to do with the space that was between them and threw all her strength into bringing Alice back to her, slowly sinking onto the bed.

She pulled herself close to the vampire keeping her arms securely around her. Her breath was coming in short and uneven gasps. She rested her cheek on Alice's trying to recover her breath. "Thanks for coming back." She whispered, her lips close enough to vampire's cheek that Alice felt the tickle of her breath.

"I never left, Bella." Alice replied, pulling the siren in even closer if it was possible. She felt content to lie there for hours. She shut her eyes, letting herself relax, and ignoring the gnawing hunger within her. She idly ran her fingers through the siren's hair, untangling the knots as gently as she could. She stretched out her senses; listening to Bella's dad sitting in a squeaky chair flipping through the newspaper and the TV downstairs was set on ESPN or something very close. _He won't be bothering us for a long while_, Alice thought pulling the heavy bedspread over the two of them.

The siren's breathing eventually evened out and grew longer; soon she was asleep, nestled in the cold arms of a vampire. But that didn't seem to matter to her, she was safe, and she was loved. What else did she need?

~~**~~**~~**~~

Half a world away, the sun had long since sunk below the horizon and even twilight had faded into memory, but the halls of Il Castello di Volterra time hardly mattered. The long hallways and marbled chambers were bathed in the harsh yellow light of countless candles in candelabras of any shape size and material imaginable. The very nature of the stone allowed sound to echo for a short eternity before finally dying down. The stone walls also forbade sound from traveling through them, so none of the tourists ever suspected what was happening deep down in the labyrinth.

Il Castello di Volterra is one of the few castles in Italy that managed to survive the test of time, of course it didn't hurt that there was a constant occupant in it since it was first built in the early middle ages. It had been built to solidify the power of the Volturi, but it served more as a symbol than an actual defensible position. It was built centuries after the Romanian Coven fell. It has withstood countless usurpation, and serves as the only true bastion of vampiric influence anywhere in the world. Now it served a much more sinister purpose. But as an ancient castle, it has attracted much tourism at the end of the twentieth century and into the twenty-first, and to keep away prying eyes the Volturi has opened part of the castle to tourists. Hiding in plain sight.

But none of that changed the fact that people were being killed and thrown into the castle's bowels; conscripted to fight against and enemy that's thought by almost all people to be the stuff of mythology, and for an ally that is thought just as much myth even with its intrusion into the popular culture.

A set of light footsteps clicked along the granite floor of the castle in a slow even fashion of one that was in no hurry to do anything. His steps were next to inaudible over the feral chorus of snarls, growls, and screams. "How's the army coming along, captain?" He said coming up to a young looking man.

"I think the two we have are almost ready, Aro. But we'll need more, at least fifteen more." Edward said. He slowly looked around the dungeon, his eyes moving from cell to cell. Only the two closest to the main entryway were occupied but another dozen and a half behind them lay unoccupied. Each cell was a small stone cube cut seemingly into the walls of the castle, six feet of stone circled them on five sides, but there was no door to the cells. The cells had been designed exclusively to hold vampires and while six feet of stone may keep deter them from escaping no door, no matter how strong, would not stop one of them from escaping.

"How are they today, Edward?" Aro asked, brushing past his appointed captain looking at some of the new soldiers. He stopped in front of one nearest cell gazing intently inside. A pair of bright red eyes cut through the dark cell locking on to duller eyes of the ancient vampire.

"Angry, strong, fast and for the most part confused." Edward replied, "Fortunately none of them seem to remember their past lives."

"That is most fortunate Edward." Aro said keeping his attention on the newborn in the cell in front of him, "What is your name young one."

There was no reply, only a harsh gnashing of teeth from the darkness of stone tomb. Then in a blur that wasn't seen so much as it was felt, the faceless new born bounded towards the mouth of the cage; his move didn't last a fraction of a second when he was held in place by the heavy chains grew taut around his chest, keeping him just inside arms length of the two elders outside the prison. The chains wound around his torso, each chain made of links four inches think, were bolted into the old stone walls; their purpose to stop them long enough to subdue them. The bolts anchored in the wall threatened to give way, when his body sagged against the chains and his mouth opened wide in an ear splitting scream of pure agony.

"That's now way to behave in front of the captain," A young looking girl said turning the corner to the prison with a harsh look in her eye. Her eyes were a sharp crimson contrasting her pale brown hair, she continued towards the cell with a childlike glee in her eye. "How many times must I tell you Teddy. You. Don't. Try. To. Attack. Your. Betters." She twisted every word with malice, sending a fresh flash of pain to the poor former man who could do nothing but writhe helplessly on the floor.

The newborn, physically still in his twenties with platinum blonde hair and of clear Nordic descent, set his eyes on Edward pleading without sound for the pain to stop. His prayers were soon answered, Edward held up his hand in a gesture that was both curt and dismissive, "That's enough Jane."

Jane, clearly crestfallen, frowned, "Yes, my captain," She said with an exaggerated salute, taking the pain away from the poor newborn. "You never allow me my fun."

"If I allowed you your fun every time you wanted it, these two would have already been driven completely and utterly insane." Aro said, letting a dry chuckle escape with the words. "Edward, it seems you have everything under control here. I'll be going." He stalked out of the room as casually as he'd walked in.

"There's a problem with this one Edward," Jane said, stepping forward to look at the poor man.

"And what problem would that be?" Edward asked, indulging his lieutenant's twisted idea.

"If he's supposed to fight against a siren," She started, pulling a stray lock of hair behind her ear, "isn't it a bad idea for him to have his ears? I mean one stray note and he'd be as unable to kill the poor girl…as you."

A low growl shot through Edward's chest as he studied the girl carefully listening for any stray thoughts. There were none, Jane's mind was wickedly one tracked; the mind of a serial killer. "I suppose your right."

"Of course I'm right; if it were up to me we'd be recruiting more women." A dangerous glint entered her eyes. Once when she let her guard down, Edward had managed to catch a glimpse into her mind; a fragment of memory that involved a woman, presumably Jane's mother, lying helpless on the ground bleeding from a dozen fresh knife wounds. "Women are after all, more fun to torture."

"It would be wasteful to waste our efforts into him. Deal with his problem in a way you see fit." Edward said, hurrying out of the room, the man's thoughts had become far too much for him to handle. Once to torture started it would have overwhelmed his telepathic ability. Besides, he didn't want to see what the girl would do to the poor soul; he didn't _want_ to hurt these people, they were a means to an end. A means of keeping his family safe, even from themselves it seemed.

~~**~~**~~**~~

"Bells, can you come down here please." Charlie called from the base of the stairs.

His daughter's eyes snapped open; she'd fallen back asleep in a pair of cold arms. It didn't take her long to remember all that happened with Alice. Her heart began racing, if her father came up there and found her in the arms of a girl he'd never seen, and both were barely clothed; he'd shit a brink. And that's all before his head exploded.

"Just a minute," Bella called out before her brain could get in front of her mouth. Her eyes went wide and she started shaking Alice.

"I know, I heard; stop shaking me." Alice said opening her eyes. "Looks like I'm being forced to leave this time, so it doesn't count." The pixie had already jumped off the bed and was on her way to the window.

"Doesn't count for what?" Bella asked picking up a brush from her desk, struggling to work some of the knots that had cropped up in the few hours of sleep she'd had.

"For me breaking my promise, silly," Alice said going back to Bella, wrapping her arms around the siren's slim waste. "I'll be back afterwards, promise."

"After what?" Bella asked zipping a sweatshirt over the torn shirt she'd still been wearing.

"No clue," Alice said, one foot on the window sill, "No visions anymore remember?" Bella hadn't had the time to open her mouth, let alone form words, by the time Alice had leapt from the window and disappeared into the wan morning light.

She stared out the open window for a few moments more before remembering her dad waiting for her downstairs. Bella started to shut the window, but decided against it; just in case Alice came back early.


	16. Of Wolves and Sirens

A/N I have nothing to say, this chapter came out with a nice neat number while writing it and I wanted to keep it up but FF has a weird word counter.

Of Wolves and Sirens

Bella sat at the edge of her bed, staring off into the forest. She couldn't see Alice anymore; she lost sight of the pixie two seconds after she hurtled through the open window. A sharp pang shot through her chest wishing Alice would come back. It wasn't the physicality of their relationship; it was finally feeling close to another being. And at the same time she felt another pain; she and Alice had gotten so close in the few weeks, and yet the siren knew so little of her. _Her name's Alice, she's a vampire, her father's a doctor, she has siblings, and that's it_, Bella thought resisting the urge to fall back on her bed and get lost in Alice's sweet smell again. It's not that the younger girl didn't want to know; it's that it was too easy to get lost in Alice's smile, or her eyes, or her laugh, and everything else about her. She was sweet, caring, and sensitive; everything she'd ever wanted and then some.

She decided, on her way down the stairs, that the next time she saw Alice she'd ask all these questions before getting lost in the vampire. Otherwise it would never become any kind of real relationship. And Bella wanted it. She wondered of Alice had these same thoughts, but if what Alice said was true then she already knew everything important about the siren. Of course there was still her personal history, if Alice only saw the future than she wouldn't ever have known that Bella was six when she broke wrist falling off a bike, or that it took a lot to get the adrenaline pumping through her. Alice always brought that out in her, a smile tugged up at the corners of her mouth just thinking of that enigmatic little pixie.

A wave of unease crashed against her thoughts as she reached the foot of the stairs. Bella remembered feeling it somewhere before; it seemed to be in the far reaches of her mind, but she knew it hit her in Forks. It couldn't; therefore, have been more than a handful of weeks. She took a deep breath, a faint musky odor that reminded her of Alice's waterfall.

Suddenly her stomach was in her throat, the world spun for a moment, and she fell. The floor rushed up to meet her, when a pair of scorching hot arms met her. The smell of wet earth and smoke intensified and the arms, the burning hot arms, made the unease grow. It wasn't the smell of the waterfall that the smell reminded her, it was the wolves. Her heart pounded against her ribs, her breathing came in short sinewy rasps; she needed to run. She needed to stretch her wings and beat her way out of the house.

She pushed herself away and soon ended up sprawled out on the cool hardwood floor. The siren's frantic movements slowed and finally ceased. Once away from that musky smell she came to her senses her heart slowed, her breathing evened out, and she slowly regained her feat.

"Bella, my god, are you alright?" A voice called to her slowly dragging the siren from her stupor.

"Yeah, I think I'm alright." Bella responded blinking her heavy eyes a few times willing them to focus. It took a while but they finally did; she was greeted by six eyes staring intently at her. The first two in the center were her fathers. The other four she didn't recognize, on pair belonged to a young man a year or two younger than Bella. The other set to a man close to Charlie's age, but with heavy creases working their way into his forehead and cheeks. The heavy smell that seemed to overpower her slowly waned and her stomach settled in turn. "Sorry, I, um, got a bit dizzy there for a minute." The siren slowly straightened her spine and took a few cautious steps forward. She stumbled for a moment but the same blazing hot arms appeared around her before she could sink to the ground.

Alice!

That's where she'd felt that unease before, it was when she and Alice collided in the supermarket on her first day in Forks. _Why_, she asked herself in that moment, _why did I feel that way with Alice? And why do I feel it again right now?_ The urge to vomit reappeared from the mist in her mind but she suppressed it again. Throwing up was bad, but dry heaving was worse by a long shot, and she hadn't eaten anything since lunch yesterday.

"Maybe she should lie down?" The boy said, still supporting most of her weight.

"I'm fine," Bella said, but with all the fuzziness in her mind the words came out slurred and unrecognizable.

"Good idea Jacob." Charlie said, in a tone that told even his hazy daughter that it was the first thing he'd thought of and the most obvious thing anyone could say. "Bring her over to the couch. Billy, there's a thermometer in the drawer by the phone in the kitchen, grab it for me."

Bella's eyes fluttered open once she was on the couch, the room spun around her but it seemed to slow steadily. Her insides were still turning and churning; but they too began to ease. A tender, but calloused, hand felt her forehead; brushing away some hair. It was comfortably warm, not that fever hot of the other hands. It was harder to focus this time, but she soon found the face of her father looking down on her with compassion.

She reluctantly pulled her eyes away from her father and scanned the room around her; the young man, Jacob, stood in the corner of the room arms crossed over his chest; his eyes looked tired, and she could tell that even tucked into the crook of his arms his hands shook. There was something wrong about him, just like there had been with Alice, but it was nothing that she could readily place. A wheel squeaked near the door to the kitchen and she strained her eyes searching for the sound; the older man, Billy she thought, wheeled his way through the cramped living room, thermometer case tucked safely in his hip pocket.

"Here you go, Charlie." He said, passing the thermometer off like a baton in a relay.

"No, I'm fine ch-dad." Bella said, her voice getting firmer, "I just got dizzy, low blood sugar I think." She slowly sat up against the arm rest.

"Maybe you're right; you don't feel all that warm to me." Charlie said backing off a bit but staying within an easy reach if she decided to fall again.

"I felt fine upstairs," she said more to the room than to anyone in it, "I don't know what happened I was walking down the stairs and I started to get light headed and then…" she trailed off not taking her eyes off the young man staring intently at her from the corner.

"Then you fell and I caught you, I let you up and you fell again." He said uncrossing his arms and taking a few cautious steps forward; his voice tried to sound light hearted, but there was a heaviness in it.

His father, given the strong resemblance, let out a small chuckle; trying to ease the tension creeping into the room. Bella closed her eyes again, this time it was to get away from being the center of attention in the room, and not from dizziness. This wasn't turning out how she expected the day to go, she'd hoped to spend it with Alice, learning about her mysterious love interest not lying on a couch while three people, two of which she didn't know, looked at her like she was dying. It was enough to bring tears to her eyes; maybe if she just lay there long enough without moving they'd eventually forget she was there.

"Here you go Bells." Charlie said pressing something cold into her hand. "Drink this, should raise your blood sugar a bit."

The siren opened her eyes to find that she was alone in the room, save for her father of course, the other two she could hear speaking in hushed voices at the kitchen table. The tall glass of orange juice in her hand looked alluring enough that she finished it in two long drags. Of course she knew it wasn't her blood sugar making her sick, it was Jacob. There was something wrong with him, he wasn't normal; not that Bella could tell what was normal and what wasn't anymore.

Out of nowhere Alice's words popped into her mind and she could hear them like Alice was laying right next to her; there was no haze of distortion in them _generally wolves and vampires don't get along. Kind of like Underworld with more teeth and fewer guns. _She knew it now, Jacob was a werewolf.

That's why, that's why she felt so uneasy about him, and it was far more than she'd ever felt around Alice. Maybe he knew. Maybe this Jacob knew that Bella was a siren, maybe his distrust and hatred of her that sent her to the ground, not once, but twice.

"Dad, I, uh, need some fresh air." Bella said pushing herself off the couch and heading for the front door. The rain was light and the sweatshirt she had one was more than enough to beat out the chill. Once away from that infernal smell she felt her mind clearing. She was positive that Jacob was a werewolf, and more importantly she knew he was one of the wolves that stumbled in upon her and Alice. Her stomach rolled over again, sending a twisting shock through her. Her wings strained against her skin, they were restless within her. All she wanted to do was rip off her sweatshirt spread her wings and head for the clouds. But she couldn't, she felt her father's boring into her neck making it itch; her fingernails dug into her palms as her frustration was shattered by the sound of the door closing quietly behind her.

"Hi Bella," Jacob's voice sounded behind her, "I don't think we've been introduced since either of us can remember. I'm Jacob." He flashed a grin that looked genuinely friendly but had some small measure of malice hidden behind it.

"Sorry we had to meet the way we did." Bella replied trying to play the naïve angle. The siren slowly extended her hand, "I'm Bella." The werewolf extended met her hand with is in an awkward handshake. The fever hot skin sent a sickening jolt of electricity up her arm. She could feel Jacob's nerves as her own when they touched; it appalled her at first and then she realized that he might not understand what was going on.

"So Jake," she started hoping that using the nickname would put him at ease, "What are you?"

Jake dropped her hand, recoiling from the question. He couldn't have let his identity slip so easily, maybe this siren did her homework before coming here; but if she did know then she would have realized from his skin that he was a werewolf. "Wh-what do you mean?" He stammered hopping that he hadn't been found out.

"Like your year in school. What did you think I meant?" Bella replied hoping that she'd knocked him off of his game.

"Oh, sorry, I wasn't sure what you meant. I'm a sophomore at the reservation's school." Jacob replied, leaning against the door frame in such a way that would stop anyone coming through the door for a moment. "So how are you liking Forks so far?"

"It's okay, I suppose different than I expected. I thought that everyone would be really cliquish, but so far everyone's been nice. At times I feel a little too nice; I got a 'Children of the Corn' vibe my first day here. But other than that…" She trailed off letting him draw his own conclusions.

"Any friends yet?" He asked, hoping that she'd let the name of _her_ Cullen slip.

"Yeah, I think, but most of the time everyone feels kinda fake, except for Angela Webber. I don't know if you know her, but she's about the only _real_ person there." Bella replied, moving carefully around Alice's name.

"Had any run ins with the Cullens?" Jake asked with a slight chuckle, "I've never met 'em but everyone seems to think that they're not right. Who knows though?"

"I have chemistry with one of them, Alice I think. She's nice enough but keeps pretty much to herself, and hasn't said much to me." Bella responded pressing her back against the post at the edge of the small porch around the front door. "What about you, I feel like you're playing twenty questions without me."

"Well, there's not much to tell really, it's kind of boring at the reservation, there's a group of guys I generally hang out with down there, when I'm not tinkering with my car. Doesn't run yet but it will soon." Jacob said, smiling. _There's no way she worked her mojo on me_, he thought. But he liked her, like if there wasn't a supernatural bond separating them they could become friends, but there was. Nothing he could do about that.

"You said that we haven't met since we can remember, what did you mean?" Bella asked beginning to like Jacob. It was a shame to her that it seemed like they were supposed to be enemies. But then again, she didn't know much about her place in everything. That was something else to ask Alice, and hope that she'd get the truth and not something heavily biased.

"Oh, according to my dad we used to play together when we were babies, before you moved out of town. He says he has pictures of us playing naked in the mud and always threatens to show them to my first girlfriend. I hope he's bluffing." Jake said letting out a real earnest laugh. It felt good, like they really had been friends before, like they could do it again. But there was of course the eight hundred pound gorilla that would come between them.

A comfortable silence settled over them nothing too heavy or light, it was somewhere in the middle. Their dads had left them alone with the light rain and a chilly breeze. "Hey, Bella," Jake started absently, "do you ever feel like there's something wrong with you?"

"What do you mean?"

"I'm not sure, like you're different from other people." It wasn't how he'd planned on broaching the subject; he was just going to accuse her of being a siren and mind-fucking people and see how she reacted, but the way they talked earlier and the earnestness about her made him want to do it more delicately. Besides, just because he was a werewolf along with the rest of his friends didn't mean that he still didn't feel it odd. "Like you're something more, something special. And I don't mean special in that new-agey where everyone is special. I mean that you're faster or stronger or can do things other people just can't."

"Yeah, I just don't know what that is yet." Bella replied, she meant the words and she wanted to say more but she was too afraid to, that she'd give the wrong thing away at the wrong time, at the same time knowing that she was bar none the worst liar on the face of the planet. "I mean sometimes, I feel like I know what others are feeling and I've had these really vivid dreams of flying. The internet says that dreams of flying are indicative of wanting freedom or when you get new freedoms. But Jake, they're more, they're so real I'm afraid that if I wake I'll lose my wings and fall straight out of the sky."

"Have you ever tried? To fly I mean." He said with a devilish smirk. "Like jump off of something really tall and stretch out your wings," he added air quotes around wings to sound less crazy.

"Yeah, I don't want have a death wish. I'd only jump off someplace like if I could survive the landing, and since not even a bunch of soft pillows would keep me alive, I'll think keep my feet planted firmly on the ground, thank you very much." Bella said with a flourish of her arms, "Why do you ask? That seems like an awfully personal question to ask someone you're just meeting."

"It probably is, but I'm one of those people that are special. I just don't really know what it means yet I just know it. You felt it; a normal person can't be that hot and not have a fever. My average body temperature is over a hundred and five; that's not normal for anyone."

"Wow, but that's kind of cool at the same time. You never really need a heavy jacket, and I'd think winter around here you'd probably need one." Bella said realizing what he was trying to tell her without telling her.

"I suppose, but we should get back inside, just to make sure our dads haven't killed each other or died of old age or something." Jacob said, laughing to himself as he pushed the door open and headed inside. _I didn't do what I was supposed to, but I'd rather that happen then turn a friend into an enemy,_ He thought as he took a seat next on the small sofa in the center of the room.

_Apparently wolves aren't the bad guys either,_ the siren thought as she leaned against the door frame. If they weren't the bad guys and neither were the vampires than who where. She remembered a piece of advice she once heard. 'if you look around the room and you can't spot the asshole your it.' Maybe she was the bad guy in this story; maybe Alice had been too kind to tell her that. Or maybe things weren't simply black and white.


	17. Of Sisters and Lovers

Of Sisters and Lovers

A small smile curled up Alice's lips as she leapt from tree to tree, just long enough to push herself off; ever so often letting herself flourish with a quick flip in the air, or pushing off with her arms rather than her legs. The excitement coursed through her, the mark she scored in the tree was coming up, and when she passed it she'd be able to catch brief glimpses into Bella's day. Yes, she realized it was slightly creepy to be spying on her girlfriend. Her mind locked up on that word, yes they both thought they were falling in love with the other, but neither of them had used that word before. It made everything so official; and most of the time hardly seemed necessary. But it's something that they should get straightened out sooner than letter. The mark blurred past her and she paused for a moment just past it, focusing her thoughts on everything that was Bella, but nothing came. No vision, no simple picture, no sound, not even a smell. Her eyes snapped open, and she looked around at the still trees around her before squeezing her eyes shut and trying again.

But the fourth time she got nothing, confusion set into her mind. It made her want to get home all the faster, maybe Carlisle would know; he seemed to know everything most times and the few times he didn't he had the answer faster than it would take most people to think of the question. As she continued her way home she started to list all the things that she needed to do. She needed to introduce Bella to her family; that should be her first priority. At some point she needed to find away to get passed being able to only see Bella, she needed to glimpse of Edward; there was a gnawing feeling in the back of her mind that he was up to something, and it wouldn't end well for anyone. And then of course there was Bella.

She should be a priority too, after all, there was love involved now. And her wardrobe was terrible, especially when it came to things she could comfortably fly in that wouldn't leave her looking like a Las Vegas stripper. It wouldn't be much, but at least it would give Alice something to keep her hands busy. Then there was school to consider, Bella needed it to keep some resemblance of normality in her life, and Alice had to make sure her families secret stayed intact, and the four days of straight sunshine didn't really help that fact.

There was no real order to the list by the time that Alice swung herself into her room through her open window. She collapsed onto the double bed she had pushed into the corner; not that she'd ever thought about sleeping on it, but it's nice to have some place comfortable to pass the time on occasion. Especially nights, those where always the worst. Never having someone to help pass the time, it was her and a book, most nights. But it had been comfortable for her, and it had passed many sleepless nights for most of a century. Of course that was before Bella and realizing how quickly time could pass.

She closed her eyes again, stretching, giving herself on more chance to get a vision. Maybe, she realized, she was trying too hard. She was trying so hard to see Bella that she was only screwing herself up. All of her other visions hadn't been forced, they'd come to her naturally. It wouldn't be too long until there was a vision and then everything would be right.

"Bout time you came back." A low voice spoke from the doorway.

"Please, please, _please_, don't start with me today, Rose." Alice said screwing her eyes shut tighter all the while knowing that just using Rose would be liable to get her pissed enough to leave. The last thing she needed, or wanted for that matter, was a visit from the voice reality, she felt completely content to lay there living in her mind until she could see something.

"Hey, I'm not starting with you alright?" Rosalie said, raising her hands to the level of her shoulders in a gesture of surrender. "But I am starting to worry about you."

"I'm fine, _Rose,_ please, I just kind of want to be alone right now." Alice said with a childish pout, rolling over so that her back was to Rosalie. She hoped that her sister would get the hint and just leave her alone.

"Alice, I know you a little too well for you to lie to me right now. I know you're not fine and I know being alone is the last thing you need right now. You've been alone enough. In the past three weeks I haven't seen you that many times. When you aren't locked up in your room, you're with _her_."

"Rose, she has a name, and…" Alice trailed off.

"And what?" Rosalie asked sitting next to her on the bed. She reached a hand out in a jerky movement, bringing it closer to Alice's shoulder, but she pulled it away before making contact.

"And you wouldn't understand," The smaller vampire choked out. "You don't get it."

"Then explain it to me," Rose said coolly refusing to leave her sister's side.

"Rosalie, I-uh-I think I love her, and I just I'm afraid. I know what she is and I know I should hate her, and I'm scared, and I don't know what to do." Alice said rolling to face the blonde. "Is that alright with you? Does it make you feel better to know what's wrong?"

"No, it doesn't, but you shouldn't have to do this alone." Rosalie said slowly rising from the bed. "If you want to talk, you know where to find me. And if you want me to leave you alone I will…now that I know what's wrong." Without another word she brushed herself off and started for the door.

"God damn it Rosalie, you know I want help. You've known it since the moment you walked in here that I wanted to talk. So pull out your glasses and your pad of paper and your fake beard." Alice sad swinging her legs over the edge of the bed and slumping low on the wall.

"Alright, I'm listening. Spill," Rosalie commanded taking a seat in a low rolling chair, casually sliding it toward Alice's bed.

"Okay, so it started like three months ago when my visions stopped for about a week, and then when they came back all I saw was Bella. Most of it couldn't have been more than a few hours in the future or maybe a day, I'm not sure. But they were constant, I saw everything about her and what I kept seeing was her coming here." Alice said, talking faster than she thought possible, even for her mouth.

Rosalie said nothing but kicked her feet up onto the bed, leaning back in the rolling chair. She didn't need to say anything, after dealing with Alice for so long all she had to do was sit there and wait for Alice to talk. Her record was one hour twenty-three minutes without a single syllable on her part.

"But then you knew all of that already. I need to skip ahead don't I?" Alice said lurching forward resting her elbows on her knees. She waited for Rosalie to respond but it never came, only a slight nod of the head and a twitch of one finger. "So then she came here, and Carlisle told us to split for a few days and go hunting, except I didn't go. I stayed here and watched her. Trying as hard as I could not to be creepy, but I'm reasonably sure I failed on that front. But we finally did meet and it was…I don't want to say perfect because it was rocky, but at the same time it was amazing. And I fell for her, I fell hard. And I don't think I wanted to admit at first just how felt about her. Because I knew what she was, but I remembered all the visions, all the visions of her being completely sweet and caring and I just couldn't help for it. I went for it and then she told me she felt the same way, after two weeks. Two weeks, and she says she's falling in love with me!"

"So aside from the fact that she's a natural born enemy, what's the problem?" Rose asked, furrowing her brow slightly.

"Yeah, but I'm not so sure she _is_ an enemy. I mean before I told her she didn't even know there were vampires, let alone that we're meant to be enemies. Rosalie you should have seen her face when I told her it was like a kid hearing a fairy tale for the first time. And she took it all in stride, I kept expecting her to freak out, but she didn't." Alice's eyes were wide as she was talking.

"Sorry, but I don't see the problem here. Of course that she's our enemy."

"Well that's because I haven't told you that every time I'm around her I have this nagging thought of ripping her throat out. I don't know, I can't _not_ be around her. But I worry, I worry that my control won't hold out and I'll do something stupid."

"What do you want me to say?" There was almost a tint of frustration in the blond vampire's voice.

"That I'm doing the right thing, that the reward is greater than the risk? Something, right now I'd take anything." Alice said, cold tears welling up in her eyes, not out of sadness, but out of sheer aggravation. More than anything right now she wanted Bella's warm arms around her, and her sweet voice to tell her everything will be alright. But she didn't have that right now, what she did have, was a cold slap of reality courtesy of Rosalie Hale.

Rosalie's eyes flickered toward her sister; the small smirk that had been playing across her lips vanished. "I can't do that Alice." She said swinging her legs off the bed and in the same movement stood from the chair and started toward the door.

"You could," Alice said, barely above a breath.

"I'd be lying." Rosalie said, looking over her shoulder at her sister; who was now nervously wringing the bed sheets between her hands. The blonde slowly shut the door behind her, leaving Alice alone.

The pixie collapsed back onto her bed, wide eyes locked intently on the door. Her mind continued to battle itself; she needed to be close to the siren, but she couldn't allow herself to be around Bella. Rose was right, no matter how strongly she felt about Bella, and no matter how good of a person she was. Vampires and siren's where enemies and could be no more.

She had to end it.

She needed to end it.

She couldn't end it. She couldn't let cool logic dictate everything, most would disagree, but those are the same people who'd see the world destroyed by ice. No, sometimes passion had a place in dictating action; she had to let that fire guide her. Even if it meant her own destruction.

A dry, humorless smile crept onto her lips, "At least I'll be warm." She muttered to the empty room around her.

~~**~~**~~**~~

"So, you and Jacob seemed to get along." Charlie said as they watched the Blacks drive off.

"Yeah, he's a pretty decent guy." Bella agreed as she lowered the arm that she didn't realize she was using to wave. For what he was, and what little she knew of what he was; she added mentally turning toward the door.

"He seems to like you, and um…he's not a bad looking young man." Charlie said, realizing that there was blood coming into his cheeks.

"I'm not having this conversation with you, dad." Bella said, brushing off the subject. She turned and went back inside, heading straight for the stairs, and for the little pixie that should be waiting for her. As she started for the stairs, she heard her father mutter a quick 'thank god' and headed for the living room.

The siren ran up the stairs two at a time; almost face planting on ever step. She made it up the stairs and threw her door open. Everything was just like she'd left it; the bed spread was still ruffled; the window was still open; the curtains still blew in the wind; but it was just like she left it. Alice wasn't there.

Alice wasn't there.

Without realizing it, Bella's eyes brimmed with tears. She tried blinking them away, but that made more come to take their place; they started streaming, silently, down her cheeks. "Why?" she choked to the room around her, why was she feeling this way? She'd managed to survive seventeen good, healthy, productive years before ever meeting Alice Cullen. Why did her absence make her ache, especially when she'd only known the vampire for a handful of weeks? She felt week, she hated feeling week.

The brunette set her jaw, grinding her teeth, letting the feelings of absence turn slowly to feelings of anger. Not at Alice; never at Alice, but at herself for feeling so week. She went to the low bookshelf next to her desk and grabbed the well abused paperback edition of _Les Miserables. _She'd only read it once before, but at this point it wasn't about understanding the story, or the characters; it was simply trying to take her mind off whatever was happening.

As she read things seemed oddly familiar. Cossette slipping away from her adoptive father, the ex-convict Jean Valjean, to meet the mysterious and utterly charming Marius Pontmercy in the back garden away from Valjean's ever watchful eye; it seemed like what she and Alice had been doing. Except they met in the forest or in the siren's bedroom, and never in a garden. And then Cosset confesses that she and her father are leaving for England, breaking Marius's heart.

A light tapping brought her out of her reverie and back into the real world. Sitting on her window sill was a short spiky haired girl. "Cossette!" She exclaimed, the line between fiction and reality was well blurred in her mind.

Alice let out a short bemused laugh and said in a voice that mocked anger, "Who is Cossette?" She hopped down from the window and took a seat on the edge of Bella's bed.

"Oh, sorry," Bella stammered, "I was reading and I guess I got into it." She glanced down at the book and noticed her forefinger was behind the better part of a hundred and fifty pages; "Really into it, I think."

"It's fine; I was only kidding." Alice said sliding up towards the head of the bed, "Sorry, I wasn't back right away; I had some family business that I had to attend to."

"Well, I'm glad your back" Bella said, shutting the book and tossing it onto the nightstand. She held out a hand towards Alice, who gently took it, and moved over to the side of the bed. Alice crawled up to the head of the bed, and sat next to the siren. The vampire wrapped her arms around the siren and tucked her head into the crook of Bella's neck. "Hey, Allie can we talk?"

"Only if you promise never to call me 'Allie' again," the vampire said looking up into the siren's warm eyes.

"Promise," the younger girl responded, "I was just trying it out to see if it fit. It doesn't by the way." She snaked her arm around the pixie's waist pulling her closer.

"I know, everyone always tries to call me Allie at one point or another, and it has never and will never fit." The older girl said with authority, slipping underneath the comforter. "Now, what is it you want to talk about?"

"You," Bella said without hesitation, "I feel so strongly about you, but I know almost nothing. I mean, I'm assuming you weren't born a vampire, and I doubt you've been living in a cave the past, however many years you've been a vampire. So spill." Bella said giving Alice a quick peck on the crown of her head.

"Well, I'm not sure how much there is to tell." Alice began, closing her eyes. "I don't remember anything of my human life, but I do remember when I was turned, so I'd say I was born sometime around the turn of the century. The twentieth century not the new one that we just had."

"Gotcha"

"I lived the regular vampire way for a couple of decades. But there was no enjoyment in that for me. I always felt bad for taking a life, and would starve myself for weeks at a time between feedings. And then I would do everything I could not to kill the person I was feeding on. But when I was that hungry I couldn't stop myself. And then one day I had a vision of the Cullens and that they didn't feed on humans, they fed on animals and that seemed a lot better for me that doing what I was. And I guess those are the highlights." Alice finished; realizing that there were fresh tears stinging her eyes. Bella noticed it too and reached a warm hand up Alice's cheek and tried to wipe her eyes. "My body can't shed tears."

"Why?" Bella asked not moving her hand off of Alice's cheek.

"I don't know." Alice replied covering Bella's hand with one of her own, "It's the way my body works I suppose."

"Oh, hmm. So those are the highlights." Bella said thoughtfully.

"Yup, all the interesting things at least," Alice said closing her eyes.

"What about love?"

"What about it?"

"Have you ever been in love before?" Bella asked, softly running her fingers over Alice's cheek.

Alice hesitated a moment before slowing shaking her head. "No."

Bella felt her hesitation just as she now felt the chilled marble skin beneath her fingertips; it was an odd feeling, of knowing. "You're lying." It wasn't a question.

"Yes and no." Alice said, flexing into Bella's soft hand. "It's a long story that happened more than fifty years ago."

"Oh," Bella said feeling completely embarrassed, "I'm sorry, Alice. I shouldn't have pushed. You don't have to tell me."

"No," Alice said, closing her eyes, "you don't have to apologize. Like I said it was a long time ago. Do you want to know what happened?" Bella nodded, but said nothing. "I was existing in Pennsylvania at the time. I kept having these visions of a man, a vampire, and in one vision I saw him walk into an old diner. I went there every day for six months and every day for those I'd get a vision of him walking in the diner for the next day. And after those six months he hadn't shown up. I gave up hope and walked away from that diner searching for the Cullens by myself."

"Well then," Bella said in a voice that was too cheery for the situation, "his loss is my gain."

Alice's eyes snapped open, blinking a few times. "You're not mad?" she managed to ask, her voice shaky and unsure.

"Why would I be? That was a long time ago, and I just said, his loss was my gain. Because if he came in to that diner we wouldn't be having this conversation right now; call me selfish, but I consider that a win for me. And I hope one for you to." The siren said, bringing her lips forward to meet Alice's in a slow passionate kiss.

"Bella," Alice started, reluctantly pulling away from the kiss, "I know this seems rather trivial now that so much has happened, but can we make this official? Like will…Ah hell, Bella be my girlfriend." The word sounded bitter coming off her tongue, but there was no other word for what she said.

The words took a moment to sink in for the siren; they felt absolutely foreign to her, "Girlfriend?" She asked making sure she heard the pixie correctly a huge pit began to grow in her stomach and suddenly she lost the ability to speak. "I, uh, um, sure; yeah; yes. Absolutely, I'd love to be your girlfriend." She finally stammered after what seemed like weeks of trying.

Alice squealed, before catching herself; she clapped one hand over her mouth, squealing into her palm. When the muffled squeals finally subsided and the hand over her mouth released itself; Alice threw her arms around Bella's neck and pulled her in as tightly as she dared. "You know that this means we'll have to meet each other's families' right?"


	18. About Time

**A/N: The world has a set against me. I've been trying to update every day since I posted the last chapter, but real life stuff, and my car kept getting in the way. So I'm finished, except to say thank you to everyone who's reviewed, they're always appreciated even if I forget to say it sometimes, so enjoy my Christmas gift to you.**

About Time

The day had been slow agonizing torture after Alice had left. If it were up to either of them, they'd never be separate, but both had lives aside from one another. Bella busied herself by making dinner for Charlie, and managed to make small talk for a couple of ours. She'd also managed to steer all conversation away from how well she and Jacob got along. All the while school loomed over her head; it wouldn't have been so bad if things had been normal. _Normal,_ she thought, _what is normal._ That world no longer had a meaning to her. It was nothing but a word, a poor word at that. Vampires had become normal in her life, werewolves had become normal in her life, and sirens had become her life; no, normal had gone out the window a long time ago and was never going to come back.

But school managed to complicate things, she now had a girlfriend who was a vampire; she had a _girlfriend_. There was another thing; was she gay? Was the word gay like the world normal now? Does it hold any real meaning? Sure she'd never felt for another girl the same way she'd felt about Alice. At the same she'd never felt anything like what she felt for Alice. Anyway, a label didn't matter at this point; it would just get in the way of the confusion.

Nothing like that would matter tomorrow; Alice was going to pick her up first thing in the morning and they were going to go to school as a couple. That thought alone made her swallow hard; it wasn't that she was ashamed of Alice, quite the contrary; but she'd decided she'd feel this nervous about doing this with anyone.

But that wouldn't be until tomorrow; today she still had to worry about a mountain of homework that she'd been neglecting since she kissed Alice the first time. Nothing seemed important last week, not like she had a huge net of friends to call on if she needed to talk. Even if she did, she couldn't have; it wasn't in her, she kept problems to herself. Or now, she could share them with Alice. A surge of adrenaline rippled through her; what if, for whatever reason, they break up? Does that mean she'd lose her girlfriend and her best friend? Suddenly the term 'girlfriend' seemed like such a dirty word and she wished she could have gone back to when it was unofficial.

No she didn't! She was just scared because it _was_ now official, even though she was half the people that knew it. But the label was now there and there was no real way to take it back. Those were the potential problems, but when Alice was around those problems wouldn't mean a thing.

Once she'd finished balancing the hundreds upon hundreds of chemistry equations and finished the four worksheets on probability, she grabbed the copy of _The Scarlet Letter_ and sat down on her bed, entertaining herself with the continuing melodramatic adventures of Hester Prynne and her hell raiser of a daughter: Pearl. Each chapter made it seem more and more like a soap opera, until the end where the minister of the town finally admitted to being the father before promptly dropping dead in front of everyone in a huge spectacle, complete with chest grabbing and a message to god. By the time she'd finished the novel it was close to 10:30, still enough time for a decent night's sleep. She set the book on top of _Les Miserables_, turned off the light on her nightstand, and tried to sleep.

She pulled the blanket above her head, rolling to her side waiting for sleep to overtake her. But it didn't come right away like she'd hopped; instead she lay in bed, watching as the minutes ticked by on the cracked alarm clock through a small break in the sheets.

10:45

11:00

11:30

An hour and she was no closer to sleeping than she had been an hour before. Frustrated, she swung her legs over the edge of the bed and stood up; the room was pitch-dark around her and the air was thick. Mumbling to herself Bella shuffled along the wooden floor to the window, throwing it open once she got there. A cold breeze shot through the open window, pushing the curtains aside as it swirled around the room rustling all the loose papers. The siren stuck her head into the night, letting the crisp, cold air fill her lungs.

The fatigue slowly came back to her with each lungful of fresh air; she closed the window half way and returned to bed. The bed was uncomfortably warm as she back between the sheets, not bothering to pull them above her head again. Even then sleep didn't come easily; she still had to fight savagely before she found herself asleep. She found herself in an uneasy, light sleep.

Light feet grazed over the top of the hard wood floors, silent to anyone listening; the feet quickly found their way to the edge of the bed and crawled on top of the covers, careful not to wake the sleeping siren. She laid a gentle hand on Bella's shoulder, feeling the brunette relax under her gentle touch.

"Alice," she mumbled trying to roll over.

"Shh," Alice breathed, lying closer to the siren, "Go back to sleep, Bella." The still sleeping Bella snuggled closer to the vampire.

"Alice, erm, please stay," The sleeping girl mumbled, unconsciously shifting her weight, letting the comforter slip out from under her side for her to roll over and face the vampire.

"I'm not going anywhere." The pixie replied placing a tender kiss on the siren's temple. The brunette's face stretched into a wide smile; free of the covers she rolled over, facing Alice, dragging the comforter over the vampire's cold body. Alice wrapped her arms around Bella, pulling her in as close as possible without hurting her.

Bella's breathing started to slow; coming in long deep breathes, sleep had finally started to drag her home. Close to an hour and a half after he first lay down to go to sleep, only six short hours before she'd have to get up again. But for Isabella Marie Swan, those six hours were the most peaceful and most restful of her short time on the Earth.

When she woke again to her alarm buzzing an irregular cadence of sharp, loud sounds; Alice was still next to her, eyes closed, and breathing deeply in a perfect mimicry of sleep. Bella opened her eyes just staring at the raven haired girls face, it was the epitome of peace; she brought her hand out of the covers bringing it close to the older girl's face. Her hand stopped millimeters away from Alice's skin; she couldn't bring herself to touch her face; feeling that if she did, it would be like desecrating some work of art.

Alice slowly opened her eyes, finding Bella's immediately; she also felt the heat coming off her hand and in a movement too quick for Bella to see the vampire brought her hand to the siren's interlocking their fingers together and bringing that warm palm to her cheek. "Bella, please, please, _please_ don't tell me that you were actually worried about touching me."

A blush rose quickly to Bella's cheeks, "I wasn't really worried about it, I – uh – I never really noticed just how beautiful you were." The siren stammered, "I mean I always thought you were gorgeous but, I don't know I just never fully comprehended it before. I hope that makes more sense to you than it did to me."

The pixie's brow furrowed, marring the perfection that the siren had always seen but just now began to realize. "Not really, but that's because I've always realized your beauty," Alice said gently cupping Bella's face with her free hand.

Bella's blushed deepened to a dark crimson, flooding the bedroom with the soft alluring scent of her blood; she tried to speak but her voice stuck in her throat. She opened her mouth and closed it a few more times, trying to speak, but she couldn't manage to make more than a few hoarse whispers; each time causing the petite vampire to softly giggle.

"Well, as much as I'd love to stay, and trust me I do, I think it's time that I let you shower and get a breakfast or something." Alice said, dragging herself away from the siren, leaving a large cold hole in the bed where she'd been. "I'll be back in at 7:30 to pick you up okay?"

"Alright," Bella said regaining her voice letting her fingers linger on Alice's hand. The vampire flashed a quick smile that melted the siren's heart, before jumping out the window and speeding off into the forest, leaving Bella alone in the cold morning. She swung her legs off the edge of the bed and padded to the bathroom. She stripped out of the sweats she'd slept in and started the shower, facing herself in the small bathroom mirror.

Bella closed her eyes, resting her head against the cold bathroom mirror, _what does she see in me_. It wasn't a unique question to her; millions of people asked that same question every day in one form or another. But they all had one thing in common, if nothing else, none of them would ever find the answer to that question. Not if Alice spent every minute of every day trying to explain it to her, because Bella couldn't see with the vampire's eyes. For now, she had to take it on faith.

Slowly, she pulled her forehead away from the mirror and started for the shower. It had only started to show the faint traces of steam when Bella pulled aside the shower curtain stepping under the rapidly heating stream of water. The heat raised goose bumps along the skin of her lower back as the water cascaded down her body. It was a refreshing feeling that was the polar opposite from Alice, but it was comforting in its own way. She languidly washed herself, until the water began to lose its bite; Bella shut the water off, grabbing a terrycloth towel from the rack. Pulling the curtain aside for the second time that morning, Bella stepped into the sauna that the bathroom had become. Her skin had turned a bright red, that looked more like the shell of a cooked lobster than a person; she made her way through the haze of steam to the bathroom window and opened it.

The soaking girl pressed her face next to the window taking in a few heavy gulps of cold air, as the steam swirled around the wire screen. She headed from the bathroom to the bedroom staggering a bit, feeling like she was quickly coming down with a fever. Once inside her room it didn't take her long to fall onto her bed, lightheaded. Her eyes fluttered closed as the first breeze pushed its way into her room and through the towel she was wrapped in; seconds later a shiver ran through her and beads of sweat started forming on her forehead.

A few minutes of the Washington air blowing through her, Bella's temperature had returned to normal. She stood up and began to dress, nervous for the first time about what she was going to wear; the siren thought better than to show up for the first time as Alice Cullen's girlfriend in an old t-shirt and jeans. Ten minutes and three trips through her wardrobe and she was done dressing; she turned her focus to her hair next, each brush stroke threatened to rip more hair out then the last. The few minutes on her bed managed to tie more enough knots in her hair to be a major pain in her ass. She took one last self conscious look in the mirror deciding that it wasn't going to get any better.

_Besides, _she thought, _everyone will be more focused on Alice than me._ Bella headed down to the kitchen to grab a quick breakfast. She pulled two pieces of bread out tossing them carelessly into the toaster before grabbing the mostly empty jar of peanut butter out of the cupboard and the mostly full jug of milk from the fridge, stealing a glance as the clock as she went. 7:15, fifteen minutes to scarf down her breakfast and grab her shit before Alice got there.

Once the toast popped out she spread the rest of the peanut butter over the warm toast before sitting and forcing herself to eat at least one slice. She couldn't, she was just too nervous, after all Forks was a really small town, and even though what those jackasses thought meant nothing in the grand scheme of things they meant something now. At promptly 7:30 there was a light knock on the door that Bella barely heard in bathroom as she did her best to get rid of the peanut butter breath. She spat quickly, and washed the rest off her mouth and hurried downstairs to meet her girlfriend.

The door swung open wide on bumping into the wall behind it, revealing the very casual Alice, leaning, one foot resting, on the door jamb a smile stretching from one ear to the next. With effortless grace she pushed herself away from the door and in the same motion found her way into the siren's arms.

"You're not going to disappear on me are you?" Bella blurted out, letting her mouth once again move a hundred miles faster than her brain.

"No, I don't think so." Alice said knitting her brow together her smile fading, "I'm not a dream if that's what you mean."

"No, no I didn't mean it like that; it was your smile it was like the Cheshire Cat." Bella said with a short laugh, meeting the blank look of the vampire, "You know, the Cheshire Cat, Alice in Wonderland, Lewis Carroll, any of this ringing a bell?"

"Oh," Alice said smiling again, "That was a stretch. Now unless you want to be late and make a bigger scene than necessary, we should probably go." Alice started for her interim car leading Bella by the hand. The both got in and started for the school, arriving there faster than Bella thought humanly possible, because where Alice didn't break the speed limit outright she bent them into a perfect figure eight. She pulled the Volvo into the asphalt and gravel parking lot with a few minutes to spare before the first bell.

Bella grabbed her backpack from between her legs and opening the door; Alice followed, popping the trunk of the car to get her own. "Are you ready?" Alice asked squeezing the siren's arm lightly, "If you're not we don't have to do this, I don't want to force you."

"No, no I'm good" Bella said with a meek smile, "I'm just glad you're going to be there." She took a few deep breaths steadying her nerves, wiping her sweaty palms off on her pants.

"If you're sure," Alice said holding her hand out to Bella; it was the absolute simplest way she could think to show that they were together. Closing her eyes the taller girl placed her hand instinctively inside the vampire's, interlocking their fingers. Cautiously she opened her eyes again waiting for the damage to be done. The world hadn't ended yet, and that was a good thing; looking back up at Alice she saw her glistening smile, and suddenly she felt more at ease. Alice added a wink and a small nod, before she started walking towards the school.

The school day passed in a blur of sideways glances, hushed whispers, an overabundance amount of rumors, a few whispers of 'are they serious' or 'how hot is that?' There were of course a few snide remarks from narrow minded people, and a few more from jealous people. On the flipside; however, there were also whispers of reassurance and how cool it was that they were open about it. But it could have been much worse they both decided as they walked back out the parking lot.

"I thought I was going to have to put that Newton kid through the wall." Alice said plopping into the driver's seat, as the parking lot slowly began to empty, "I counted, he said 'that's so hot' twenty-six times."

"Oh that's nothing, did you hear Jessica. 'Oh my god, so apparently the only way to get a Cullen is to be gay.' I thought I was going to punch her while laughing my ass off." Bella said doing a half decent job in her Jessica impersonation.

"So," Alice began, slipping it into the ignition, "Was it as bad as you thought it would be?" The ebony haired vampire slipped the car out of the parking lot. Being the last to leave had its perks, the biggest being that there was no one around to see it when you break the speed limit but thirty or forty miles an hour; Alice decided once she reached the city limit.

Once Bella was able to get her mouth moving again, and her fingernails out of the center console "Yeah, I think so; to tell you the truth I don't really remember most of it. I just wanted the day to end and everything blurred together."

"Do you regret any of it?" Alice asked, taking one hand from the steering wheel and placing it over Bella's, softly stroking the back of her palm.

"What you mean like telling the school that the most beautiful girl there is _my _girlfriend. Oh yeah, I regret that." Bella said, worried that the sarcasm dripping from the corners of her mouth would ruin the leather interior.

"Seriously."

"Seriously, there was a look on Angela's face when she asked that I couldn't place, but she looked hurt. I think she was upset that I didn't tell her earlier." Bella said staring out the window, playing with the shorter girl's hand.

"I'm sorry, but just remember that you'll have time to make things right." Alice said taking her eyes off the road to look, "but right now you have some more pressing problems to deal with."

Brown eyes went wide staring at their amber counterparts, "W-what do you mean, problems?"

A devilish played across the pixies lips, "You my dear Miss Swan are going to a house full of vampires."


	19. Tyranny and Liberty

**A/N: Sorry it took some time to get this chapter out, but with the holidays and all and a little bit of writer's block on this story I just haven't been able to. Hopefully this will make someone's day somwheres, and as always thank you to those who review, and if you feel so inclined please feel free to review. Thank you.**

Tyranny and Liberty

The cages were ever so slowly beginning to fill up; each one imprisoning a freshly turned snarling beast of a vampire. Through torture, and brainwashing they'd all lost their individuality an eternity ago. What shreds of humanity still remained trapped within the deepest reaches of their minds were slowly being burned away with cruel delight. Jane quickly flitted between the six occupied cells, each victim taken from the remotest regions of six different countries; because no one could ever connect the dots between the victims, and after their ears had been torn off and their heads' shaved they didn't look like the person they were in life. Of course they weren't alive, nor were they dead, they were trapped in a hellish purgatory for one reason, for one sole purpose, and once that purpose was fulfilled any survivors would be immediately executed. Then their bodies would be cremated their ashes scattered to the winds and no one would ever be the wiser, they'd become just another statistic, a missing person that would never be found.

Periodically, the blonde vampire would stop in front of an open cell and throw her blood red irises on the helpless occupant, delivering a blinding wave of pain to them sending them to the ground writhing in pain. A malicious little smile would faintly grace her lips before she disappeared into a blur, repeating the process on the next prisoner that caught her eye. She leaned casually against the wall grinning at their newest 'recruit' a young woman from Belgium that Jane had managed to drive partially insane before the transformation was complete. Now that the poor girl was one of them, she was barely a vampire; vampires were supposed to possess some higher thought, but the wretch was barely above a vegetable. Calling her a zombie would have been more appropriate.

"Admiring your handiwork Jane?" Edward asked, silently walking up to her, stopping a few paces away from her. The way his lieutenant tortured the poor bastards, they would end up psychotically violent afterwards, often lunging at their captors in pure feral rage. This in turn would lead to another session of torture, leaving them a helpless mass of cold flesh and colder chain. But in the end they would obey their masters unquestioningly and they would be more than willing to kill anything that moved.

Jane slowly crossed the distance to the much taller vampire, standing on her toes she whispered "You know how fresh blood makes me…." She trailed off, opting instead to nibble on Edward's earlobe.

Edward froze, letting the girl get it out of her system; he kept his eyes straight ahead, locking them with the captive's. The thoughts in the room were as simple as they appeared; all six of the captives had no real thoughts, even their minds were growling, and Jane…well Jane currently was completely focused, once again, on seducing and bedding Edward. Not for love, or anything so highbrow, but because she felt like it; she needed that release, because torture would only get her so far.

"Aww," Jane pouted pulling away from the statuesque Edward, "You're never any fun. And you always have to run my fun." She pulled away from him, walking over to one of the first captive, blinding him with pain, until he could no longer scream. Her breath quickened and her eyes went wide; torture had given her the same release since she was human and murdered her mother. But that first, when she wrapped the cord tightly around her mother's neck, as she felt the life drain from her helpless body; that wasn't just a simple release it was sheer ecstasy (orgasmic even.) And in the centuries since then nothing had ever come close, no matter how much she tried to recapture it, no matter how much she perfected her technique on humans or vampires.

"I let you shave their heads and tear off their ears, what more do you want?" He said, stepping back leaving his lieutenant to her games. Before he even made it to the threshold of the dungeon he was knocked sprawling to the floor. Jane pounced on him, pinning him to the floor, before he could regain his feet. The smaller vampire straddled his chest, using all of her strength to keep him immobile.

"This works," She purred bringing her head down to Edwards neck, deeply breathing in his scent, "How many times have I told you what torturing these things does to me." A growl rumbled through her chest. Despite the size difference Jane easily overpowered her captain, landing bite after bite across his throat; each one not hard enough to break through his granite skin, but hard enough to cause Edward pain and her pleasure. Edward tried to fight her off, but that just added to the arousal. Soon he did manage to free one hand and quickly brought it across her face in an ear shattering slap.

In a movement quicker than even Edward could see; Jane grabbed his wrist, bending it backward, until it threatened to snap. He arched his back in pain, trying to maneuver himself to a position to lessen the sheer agony. Jane's lips curled back in a cruel smile as she let out a low moan.

~~**~~**~~**~~

"Are you ready, now?" Alice asked, feeling Bella's hand squeezing hers. They'd been standing at the front door for the better part of fifteen minutes, but every time Alice's free hand reached for the door knob, the taller girl would look at her and violently.

Bella gulped hard, chewing on her lower lip. "Yeah, I think so."

"Bella, sweetie, relax. It's not going to be as bad as you're making it out to be. My family already knows about you." Alice said giving her girlfriend's hand a reassuring squeeze. "They're going to love you, trust me."

The taller girl took a deep breath, "Always." Unconsciously she started to smooth out her shirt doing everything she could to stay her nerves. "Is there anything I should know, before we go in?"

"Umm…let's see. Emmett looks scary, but he's just a giant teddy bear once you get to know him, which should take all of ten minutes. The really scary one is Rosalie, but that's not entirely true; I'll warn you right now, that she's not going to like you. It's nothing personal; it will just take her a while to warm up to you." Alice said locking eyes with Bella, doing all she could to comfort and reassure her.

"How long's a while?"

"Um, twenty years if you're really good. Fifty if you piss her off."

"You're joking right?"

Alice didn't respond she just gave Bella an even stare that said everything that needed to be said. _No I'm not joking, and trust me._ "I was the last person to find this family, believe me that it's taken me a long time to earn her trust. I don't think she's ever really opened up to anyone. But that's not for you to worry about."

"Alright, anything else?"

"Well you met Carlisle, there's nothing more you need to know there. That leaves Esme, she's the most likely to kill you…" Alice paused for effect, letting Bella's face go white from fear, "She'll probably mother you to death."

"Oh, I thought…"

"Exactly what I wanted you to think. Relax," Alice said standing on her toes, whispering to Bella, "They can smell fear." Alice pulled away with a smirk plastered across.

The color drained from Bella's face, her fingers stopped playing with the material of her shirt, her breath got caught in her throat, "Really," she whispered, "you guys can smell fear."

Alice broke out into a chorus of laughter, "No, we can't smell fear, and you my love need to relax. C'mon, we can't stand out here, all day. It's now or never." Without waiting for a response, the vampire's hand shot out, grabbing the door knob. She gave it a short twist, headless of the fact that Bella was squeezing her hand hard enough that the tendons in her hand started to creek and pop.

Standing just past the doorway into the foyer stood each of the Cullen's arranged in a perfectly spaced half circle, none of them were moving. The siren felt seriously uneasy as she crossed the threshold, all eyes were locked on her. She didn't know what exactly to do, or how to stand, or if she should speak, or what she should say if she spoke. She decided to just stand there and stare right back at them, hoping that it was what she should do. Hell she'd never actually met a houseful of vampires before. Of course she'd prepared herself, knowing that they were all insanely attractive she'd seen three out of the four of them, so it didn't surprise her that the one she hadn't seen was as striking as the rest. But she hadn't even thought that they would sit there and stare at her. The slits on her back began to ache, her wings trying to free themselves.

"Everyone, this is Bella. You can all stop looking at her like you're a bunch of gargoyles." Alice said stepping in front of her girlfriend to slap her family back into reality. "Bella, you've met Carlisle; next to her is Esme, his wife my mother, and then I'm sure you've seen Emmett and Rosalie at school but here they are in person." Once Alice finished the introductions she landed a sharp elbow in the taller girl's ribs, urging her to say something.

"Um, hi," She said realizing that that probably wasn't the best thing to say, but finding her mouth almost incapable of saying anything more intelligent.

"Oh, Bella it is so good to meet you!" Esme said, stepping forward and wrapping her arms around the siren, with no warning, wrapping her arms around Bella in a bone crushing hug, "Alice has told us so many wonderful things about you."

"Nice to meet you too, Mrs. Cullen." Bella gasped, weekly putting her own arms around her assailant.

"Oh, please call me Esme."

"Alright, Esme," Bella gasped, "I can't exactly breathe."

"Oh, dear I'm so sorry!" The matron exclaimed releasing her arms, taking a few steps back, "I hope I didn't hurt you." Without the constant struggle for oxygen, Bella decided that Esme sounded like a Stepford Wife; she even looked the part.

Emmett was the next to come forward, momentarily Bella thought the floor shook beneath her, but as it turned out it was just her legs trembling just slightly. He came close to her; all but his head froze in place. He eyed her up and down a few times, the gears in his mind ground. "So you're Shorty's new girlfriend." He said slowly rubbing his chin. "Huh, I always thought Edward was the poof-ball. Good for you guys though." He closed the small space between then, wrapping his arms around her shoulders, "Welcome to the family, the only way out know is death…or a nasty breakup or something." His hug was tight, but not as bone crushingly tight as his mother's, but all the same Bella found herself wanting to breathe, not an easy task considering that by the nature of the hug her face was buried in the giant vampire's chest.

"Is this a family or a mafia?" Bella asked when Emmett broke away. She didn't mean to joke, but it just kind of came out of her, before she had the chance to stop it.

"I'd say ask Fredo, but we had to kill him. Oh, by the way, I'm Emmett, if you hadn't already figured that one out." Emmett replied with you bellow of laughter. The joke went way over Bella's head, but she found herself joining in on the laughter. She took an immediate liking to Emmett; he was what she'd always imagined a big brother to be.

"Bella, it's very nice to see you again, especially now that I don't have to lie to you." Carlisle said, stepping around his adopted son. He carried a warm smile that began to erase all the ill feelings that their first meeting had left upon the siren.

"Doctor Cullen, I have to say the same." Bella said, surprising herself once again with how she quickly she'd become formal, it was almost in a matter of seconds, since she'd been joking with Emmett. A blush colored her cheeks; she hoped that they hadn't thought that she was being fake. That was the furthest thing from her mind; she'd just taken Alice's advice and relaxing. To say the least it was odd, odd that her personality seemed to shift with each meeting, she was formal with Carlisle, she joked with Emmett, and with Esme the only thing she could concentrate on was the lack of oxygen. But two points only make a line, they don't make a pattern.

"When you have some time, I'd like to talk about what you are. I've been doing some research and I found a few things that I'd like to discuss with you." He said, retracting his hand.

"Anytime is fine by me," She responded, shoving her hand in her hip pocket.

"Alright then, how does tomorrow afternoon work for you?"

"I think it works just fine."

That just left one more introduction, _great,_ Bella thought to herself. The one person in that family that she was told, point blank, wouldn't accept her. Rosalie stood her ground, not moving a fraction of an inch. A wave of calm washed over the siren as she felt the eyes of the blond vampire on her, soon through the calm there came a prickling of wariness as she stepped forward.

Rosalie made no attempt to seek any kind of contact from Bella; she merely crossed into the brunette's intimate zone and stood her ground. Generally people try to stay at a safer distance, but the slightly taller vampire was displaying that she had no fear of the siren, by deliberately crossing into Bella's personal bubble. Cautiously the siren took a slow step backward, letting Rosalie know, unintentionally, that she'd won. It was only then that she spoke, "It's," she hesitated for a brief moment, trying to find the best word to use "a pleasure to meet you. I'm Rosalie, though I sense Alice has already mentioned me." Her voice was still cold a distant and her eyes flickered for an instant over to the diminutive vampire. Alice hadn't lied about that, but of course Bella had already known that.

"Only in passing," Bella stuttered feeling very intimidated by the whole situation. She hadn't realized that as Rosalie spoke, she moved closer, and invaded her intimate zone once again. The siren took another step backwards, only to be met by Alice's arms.

"Okay, now that you've all had fun scaring the hell out of _my_ girlfriend I think we'd better get going. We don't want to worry her father." Alice said, slipping her hand into her the siren's.

"Yeah, that's a good idea." Bella said following the vampire's lead. The two turned and walked out amongst a few "good byes."

Once they were outside, with the door safely shut behind them, Alice spoke again, "I'm sorry for that…my family doesn't meet a lot of new people and they're not that good at it."

"Alice, don't worry about it, it's fine and it's over. But I do have to say that those were easily the most awkward hour of my life." Bella said, kissing Alice's forehead in reassurance.

"I don't mean to burst your bubble, but Bella that wasn't an hour."

"It wasn't?"

"Oh no, that was only fifteen minutes." Alice said. Bella's jaw dropped to the ground as the raven haired girl started for the car, still parked in the driveway.

"C'mon, it's my turn for the awkward meet and greet."


	20. Back Down to Earth

Back Down to Earth

Alice was nervous.

Not like Bella had been only an hour before, she didn't have to worry about the siren's family ripping her apart for dinner, but she still didn't know how Bella's father would take it. He was a nice enough person, she'd only had met him a few times, none in the course of his duty. But he'd always struck her as a very traditional, _very _conservative man. But he was a father, and therefore should love his daughter, regardless of who she loved.

But who really knows, she certainly didn't.

As much as she wanted to know how this would turn out, she'd have to wait and see like every normal person. She squeezed Bella's hand harder out of reflex, but stopped when she sensed that she'd come close to hurting her girlfriends hand. She gulped at the word, she'd managed to appear calm on the outside, but she knew exactly what Bella had been going through, she'd felt the same thing.

But she knew that she should remain calm, _that's what Bella needs,_ she thought constantly, every time she wanted to break down and go away. She couldn't, she had to be that stalwart knight for the siren. She'd have time when she was alone to become a nervous wreck over the entire thing.

"How nervous are you?" Bella asked when they turned onto their street.

"Less nervous then you, but I think that's only because I'm not worried about being eaten." Alice said quickly as they pulled into the gravel driveway.

"Tell you the truth? I'm scared too; I have no idea how Charlie's going to respond." Bella said her voice shook with the same nerves Alice was feeling.

"It'll be alright," Alice said with a smirk as she reached her free hand over to turn off the car never letting go of Bella's hand. "Even if it's not at first. First truism of life: this too shall pass."

Bella giggled a little at the joke, even if it wasn't that funny to her. The tension slowly melted away, even if it was only temporary; it felt good to laugh. Of course with Alice, everything felt good, "And what's the second truism?"

"Do you really want to know?"

"Yes"

Alice cast her head down, a small smirk danced on her lips; she looked at Bella from under to her eyelashes. "Fuck em if they can't take a joke."

Bella let out a burst of laughter, "I never thought I'd ever hear you drop the 'F' bomb." She continued her laughter until her ribs began to ache and she actually doubled over in laughter.

"Is me saying 'fuck' really that funny?" Alice asked rubbing the taller girls back in slow circles as the laughter finally started to subside.

"It is a little," Bella giggled, "Thanks for that though, I needed a laugh. Let's go in and face the music."

"And here I am without proper music." Alice said, grabbing Bella's hand once again, interlocking her fingers with those of the sirens, and heading towards the door.

"Let's do this like a band-aid." Bella said with one hand on the door knob, nodding her head over to Charlie's cruiser that was parked in the dive way.

She held onto Bella's hand as the two walked in. Charlie sat on the couch in the living room, reading a newspaper on his lap, while he looked up at ESPN ever so often. Alice jokingly pointed out Charlie's gun hanging on the coat rack as they passed it. Bella threw her elbow into the vampire's ribs, regretting it immediate. But to her credit Alice winced anyway, letting the siren have her brief moment of victory.

"Hi dad, I'm home."

"Hey Bells, I'm in here." He responded, without looking up from either his paper or the TV.

"Dad, there's something I-err-we would like to tell you." Bella stuttered walking into living, with Alice in tow.

"What is it Bells?" He asked, finally setting the newspaper aside. It was of course turned to the sports section. Bella mentally shook her head, wondering if her father had any other real interest in the world aside from grown men playing with balls.

"Dad, this is Alice." Bella started feeling ever word she knew fly out of her brain.

"Hello Alice, it's good to see you again." Charlie said, standing up from the couch.

"Hi, Chief Swan," Alice greeted stepping forward to shake his hand.

"So is this hand holding thing the typical high school girl stuff, or is it something more?" Charlie asked once Alice had broken the hand shake.

Bella turned a deep red without any intermediary shades; her mouth went dry. "H-h-how did you know."

"Generally Bella, when friends hold hands they don't interlock their fingers. You too are, but I'm not sure how your generation defines hand holding." Bella's jaw dropped even further at the explanation and how her, seemingly oblivious dad picked up on something so outrageously subtle. "I may be the chief of a town of three thousand but that doesn't mean I'm not good at my job. Oh, and Alice feel free to call me Charlie, Bella does when she thinks I'm not listening."

The blush in the siren's cheeks suddenly somehow managed to intensify, and her mouth ceased to produce any saliva. There was no way she could even try to speak. Hell she couldn't even try to stutter. Her mouth refused to make any sound other than: "Uhh…"

"Alice, I don't mean to be rude but do you think you could give us a minute?" Charlie asked looking sideways at the pre-game report that was still on the TV.

"Sure," Alice said, squeezing Bella's hand one last time. "I'll just wait outside." She whispered into the taller girl's ear, hugging her briefly before starting for the door, only looking back once the door was open; giving her girlfriend one last reassuring smile.

"Are you okay, Bella?" Her father asked placing a rough, caring hand on her shoulder. He was beginning to worry about her, she'd gone silent, but then of course she hadn't expected him to do what he'd done. Not only did he call out her relationship, before she could, but he'd also let it slip that she always called him Charlie when she thought he wasn't around. Either one, on its own, wouldn't have been enough to render his daughter speechless but together, they hit her in a way she didn't expect.

A second ticked by. Then two, third, and a fourth. The color slowly drained from her cheeks until they held just the lightest touch of pink in them. "Yeah, I am. I'm a bit surprised that you're okay. I kinda thought that you were going to be the mute one here, not me."

"Heh, well at least you know your old man can still surprise you from time to time. Sit down for a minute so we can talk." He took his seat again, pushing the folded newspaper to the ground with a little rustle. Bella took a moment to process the request before she herself sat down on the opposite corner of the couch. "I just wanted to talk about a couple of things, father to daughter. Is this serious; I mean that normally meeting the parents is a fairly big step."

"Yeah, I think so…I'm really not sure, it's the first time for…" She drifted off trying to find the right words, "It's the first time I've ever felt this." She started playing with her hands, trying to rub off some imaginary spot, or piece of dirt. Her breathing slowly began to even out, but the butterflies that landed in her stomach still continued to flutter.

"Ugh," He grunted tilting his head back and closing his eyes. He pinched the bridge of his nose between his thumb and forefinger before continuing, "This is going to sound cliché, but I have to ask. Is this a phase you're going though? I don't want to sound narrow minded, but I don't want you to get hurt."

"I dunno, I mean…I dunno." The siren said chewing on her bottom lip and tongue, "It could be, or it could be Alice. I've never felt more than just a little crush for anyone. Except for her." To her amazement she didn't blush; she didn't, but her father did. She found a smile tugging at the corners of her lips as she realized that her father was truly human.

The next shocker of that afternoon was that her father cut the growing tension as he began to laugh. At first it was a soft, airy chuckle that soon grew into a big basso rumble of laugh. Bella stared at him, beginning to giggle herself when he finally managed to speak between bouts of laughter, "That's a load off of my mind."

"What?"

"I don't have to remind you to use protection!" He threw his head back again letting out another roar of laughter. "And I don't have to give you the safe sex talk!"

"Well…" The brunette said, standing from the couch, "I better go see how Alice is doing." She headed for the door, stopping to gently pat her dad on the shoulder, they'd never really been touch feely with each other, and this was no real reason for either of them to start. She listened to her father's laughter all the way to the door.

She shut the door as quietly as she could, not wanting to interrupt the moment he was having. Bella found Alice leaning against a tree at the edge of the driveway. Running over to her she squealed, wrapping her arms around her, completely official, girlfriend.

"I take it that the conversation went well?" Alice asked returning the rather ardent embrace. She was glad her skin was so hard; otherwise she'd have to worry about going home with bruised ribs.

"Yes, and he's not going to go through the awkward safe sex conversation. So it's a double win." The siren said rocking the vampire from side to side.

Alice gave one of her patent pending musical laughs that always seemed to lilt up at the end, "Well good for you, if you're happy, so am I?"

Bella gave a laugh of her own, "When aren't you happy?"

"I refuse not to be happy. And believe me, there are days where being happy is a ton of work." She said placing a quick kiss on the taller girl's cheek.

The siren had no idea how to respond to that, so she settled for nodding in agreement. When enough time seemed to pass between them she said, "So do you want to come back in through the front door again?"

"Nah, coming in invited is so boring. I think I'll stick with the open window." Alice said with a wink, "But I think I'm going home. Besides, I think Charlie is in a bit of shock right now, it might be best if we let _this_ sink in for a little bit."

"Good point, but if you get lonely tonight, my door-err-my window is always open." Bella said as the two crossed the soggy driveway to Alice's car. They'd both been hanging off each other like two giddy school girls. Because today they were just that, they weren't a vampire and a siren. They were two young girls in love.

~~**~~**~~**~~

Alice had come back later that night, right before Bella had gone to bed; Bella greeter her, dressed only in her jammies. The two had talked for a while, about their families, and how they reacted when the others weren't around, but always in hushed whispers, even with the music playing, they thought it better to play it quietly, especially with Charlie the newly unmasked super detective in the house. He probably knew they were there, and didn't mention it. Bella went to bed sometime around eleven with Alice's arms still tightly circled around her. It felt nice, but it was more than nice; it felt right.

The morning came all too early for the both of them, of course only one of them had slept. The other sat there watching, holding, and occasionally pretending to sleep. Just before the alarm was set to go off, Alice reached out slowly and turned it off before it could sound. "Bella, time to wake up," She breathed into the sleeping girls ear. The sheets rustled as Bella slowly stirred beneath them; she languidly stretched out her arms and legs keeping her eyes shut. After the stretch she rolled onto her side, still peacefully asleep. "Bella, wakey, wakey;" She said, this time kissing along her jaw line until her lip found the siren's.

Bella gave a low moan, "If I stay asleep will you keep going?" She asked with a sleep filled voice. She slowly rolled over, her eyes fluttering open as she came face to face with the vampire. Alice looked as gorgeous as ever, even first thing in the morning. The brunette decided after yesterday morning that it just wasn't fair. It should take time to look that good.

The raven haired girl leaned forward, "Charlie left for work five minutes ago. If you wake up we could continue too."

"But if I wake up, there's school." Bella whined.

"You always see the glass as half empty." Alice chided. "I guess I should let you get ready." She swung her legs off the edge of the bed sitting there for a moment. The siren let her slip from her arms, but scooted next to her.

"Thanks for spending the night," She said as color rose to her cheeks, "I think we could make this a regular thing."

Alice's looked at her, her eyes now a dull tarnished gold. "We could, but the population of cute little critters might suffer with all the feeding I'd have to do."

"Is that a yes?"

"Yes, that _is_ a yes."

Bella hurled her arms around the vampire and brought her in close, hugging her tightly. Alice followed suit, but raised the stakes as she placed her lips on top of her girlfriends and kissed her passionately, feeling the oxygen leave the siren's lungs. The color pooling in Bella's cheeks deepened, as the realization that she had terrible morning breath sunk in. Then she realized that Alice had no problem with it and she no longer cared. Her heart began beating out of her chest, partly out of the acute lack of oxygen, but mostly from the way that Alice always had that effect on her.

Alice slowly broke away, leaving the poor siren panting to catch her breath; she smiled a little and slowly got up from the bed. "I'll see you at school," She said walking over to the window. Bella had collapsed back onto the bed, her heart still pounding; she weakly nodded to her girlfriend and watched as she took off into the forest.

Five minutes later she managed to get herself up and into the shower, until then she hadn't realized just how cold she was. The steamy water helped her out of the post-sleep haze and once again into the real world. She stepped out of the shower, grabbing the driest towel off the rack and dried herself. The steam had seeped into the towel making it warm but damp. She took less care dressing that morning than she had the day before, but still did her best to look less plain.

After she'd managed to dress herself she went down for breakfast: cold cereal and milk. She ate as fast as she could, not wanting to turn to mush, and because the faster she ate the faster she could get to school and the faster she got to school the faster she could see Alice. She dumped her bowl out into the sink, leaving it there to do when she got home. She ran up the stairs, narrowly missing a fall three steps up from the bottom, but she managed to recover and continue up to the bathroom, where she quickly brushed her teeth.

The siren grabbed her keys and coat and headed out to her truck.

The ride to school proved to be uneventful, as the roar of the truck easily drowned out all errant thoughts that rattled about in the siren's mind. She felt a smile tug at the corners of her mouth, today was going to be better; she decided. Now that everything was out in the open she didn't feel it necessary to keep her head down.

She pulled into the gravel parking lot, announcing her presence and drawing more than a few quick glances from the on lookers in the parking lot. None of them spared her a second glance, hopefully they'd moved on, or better yet forgotten all about it. She pulled into the first open space she could find and killed the engine. Grabbing her book bag and her coat she hopped down out of the cab and started towards her English Class.

She took her usual seat in the back, she'd hoped to see Alice before school, but it didn't break her heart that she didn't. She took her seat and pulled out her semi-neglected English book, idly flipping though the most recent assignment. Thoreau's "Civil Disobedience" didn't exactly make for the most exciting reading, but it was better than _Walden_. Because, seriously, how many essays about living by a lake can one read before it gets too old. In Bella's mind, it only took four before her father's gun started looking rather inviting.

She'd become so engrossed at pretending to read she complete didn't notice the girl taking the seat next to her. "Bella, I thought we were friends?" Angela said, setting her book down on the desk.

"We are, aren't we?" Bella responded, unsure of what exactly was going on. She set her book aside and turned her head.

"I thought so," she said, her voice was meek and shaking. Clearly she wasn't ready for a confrontation. "Why didn't you tell me…? Why didn't you tell me about you and Alice?"

Bella was left speechless. The thought hadn't even crossed into her head; the formal part had come about so quickly and so suddenly that telling anyone didn't make sense to her. "Angela, I'm so sorry, but," Bella laughed nervously, "I…we didn't tell anyone. It just kind of happened. And…I'm sorry. You deserved to know."

"Wow, I wasn't expecting that kind of honesty. But thanks." Angela said taking her seat; there were still a few minutes before the first bell would ring. "So tell me now."

Bella spent the rest of English, and most of lunch telling Angela most of what happened between she and Alice. Editing out all the supernatural weirdness, and talk of hunting and blood; all in all she made it as completely vanilla as possible. At lunch Alice joined in on the story, making everyone at their table visibly uncomfortable. Alice added a few little flourishes in place of the truth, leaving Angela wondering what exactly was true, and what was just good story telling. The rest of the school day passed easily enough, without any kind of major incident.

"So, are you going to follow me home?" Alice asked, as the two were standing in the parking lot, leaning against Bella's truck. Rosalie and Emmett were both standing by an absurdly flashing convertible, both hurrying Alice along in their own little way. Rosalie continued to shoot daggers at both of them, while Emmett kept checking his watch.

"Actually I'm going to drive home, and probably…" She trailed off, using hand motions to indicate flying as subtly as possible, of course it looked less like a bird and more like a butterfly, but Alice got the idea. "I've been feeling a bit restless in _that_ area all day."

"I getcha, see you soon." Alice stood on her toes and gave Bella a quick peck on the cheek. She left and rejoined her family, who looked thrilled to be able to leave. The parking lot was almost empty by the time the flashy red convertible peeled out trailing a fine spray of gravel. Bella watched for a few moments as the car turned into a little red dot before it disappeared all together, swallowed by the never ending sea of green.

She climbed into the truck, tossing her bag on the passenger seat, and forced the key into the ignition. The truck rumbled to life as she put it in reverse, the truck bucked a little as she raised her foot off the clutch a little too quickly; Bella quickly pushed down the gas before the truck's engine could stall. She silently cursed herself as she tried to shrug it off; but backed out of the space and moved it back into first. She crawled towards the mouth of the parking lot, flicking on her turn signal; she applied the gas, but to her dismay the truck lurched and died.

Growling, she slapped the dashboard of the car out of pure frustration before she turned the key again. This time she slammed the clutch down, then the gas and peeled out of the parking lot. She grumbled the entire ride home, pissed that she managed more than a month without a single stall and she'd then had two in the same day. She sped home, slamming each and every gear to make sure she didn't stall again; the truck protested when she kept trying to push past the fifty-five mark.

A few minutes later she pulled into the driveway and killed the engine. She ran into the house, tossing her keys on the table; Bella took the pen and pad of post-its from a drawer and scribbled a hasty note to her dad "Went to Alice's. Dinner with her family. She'll bring me home. Leftovers in the fridge – Bella." She tore the note off the bad and stuck it square in the middle of the refrigerator, right where she knew he'd find it.

She ran upstairs and changed into her flying clothes; the backless top was more frayed then it was before she popped it in the wash. She'd even put it on the ultra delicate cycle, but that was no use. It was shredded halfway to the straps. A few more uses and it would cover no more than just a bra. The jeans were a little better, but not by much. She belted another shirt and her coat to her middle.

The siren went back down stairs and left from the front door, making sure to lock it behind her. It was a risk, taking off in broad daylight like this from such and exposed place, but it was worth it, and she didn't have another real option. She was far too cold without her wings out to make it into the concealment of the woods to take off. She let her wings unfold out of her back and took to the sky in heavy flaps. Flying was a tricky game and although she knew how too instinctually she'd yet to learn the best way to climb. Bella tried flying straight up to the clouds, but found that her breath was labored; it was taking a lot more work than she'd thought before. Then she remembered how birds and planes gained altitude, she struck out in a straight line, inclining herself; the rest was simple physics and before she knew it she was safely concealed in the clouds. From what she'd learned about clouds in elementary school, she guessed she was over a mile above ground. Maybe less depending on the exact type of clouds blanketing Forks.

The siren rose and fell in the clouds and did a few rolls and banking turns to get the pent up energy out of her system. Every time she dipped out of the clouds she'd check her surroundings, looking for the familiar manor house, somewhere below her; she'd found it twice by luck and by accident, and she wondered if she could find it again on purpose. After her dozenth or so dip she spotted the house in the distance, far away from where she thought it should be; she descended from the clouds and zipped along just above the tree line. She was far enough out of town that the possibility of being seen was negligible.

The siren set herself down just outside of the well manicured meadow in front of the Cullen's house and changed. Her hair was soaked from the moisture in the clouds coupled with the speed she'd been going, and bother her shirt and pants where damp. She pulled on her coat, feeling inside each pocket for something she could use to tie back her hair, so it could do something besides hang limply from her face and make her look like a drowned cat. She found an old hair tie in the bottom of one of the coat's hip pockets and quickly tied back her hair as she walked through the meadow and up to the front door. Nervously she pushed the doorbell and waited for a response. Less than a second ticked by before the door swung open revealing Alice standing there with a huge grin on her face.

"Took you long enough." She said scoffing, but standing aside to let the siren into her home. "Carlisle's up in his study but I want to show you something first." She took Bella by the hand and led her upstairs. Bella was more in awe of the rest of the house than she had been of the entry way. Everything was so new and (she hated even to think it) shiny. She followed Alice's lead up a flight of stairs, through a long hallway and through a plain white door. "I made you something," Alice said, dropping her hand. She disappeared into her closet, "I've never really tried doing anything like this before, but in my humblest of opinions you need it." She returned from the closet holding a simple white box, holding it out for the siren to take.

Bella took it with unsure hands, Alice got _her _a present? No, more than that; Alice _made_ her a present. She carefully peeled back the lid and pulled aside the tissue paper. Cradling the box in one arm she pulled out a pair of simple looking jeans and looked them over; they seemed ordinary enough, but they were too heavy, or well heavier than any she'd ever had before.

"Those aren't regular jeans, you know," Alice chimed in feeling Bella's apprehension. "The waist and hems are lined with leather so they don't rip or fray. And the rest is lined with fleece to keep you toasty warm." Bella put them on the small bed in the corner, still in shock and pulled out what was underneath. She couldn't believe what she was seeing, it was a leather coat, but not something you could get off the rack, or even from most tailors. The shell was bar none the softest leather she'd ever felt, it was dark brown and had almost a shine to it. Like the jeans the lining was also fleece, but the back of the coat was where it got interesting. There wasn't a back, only a large round hole placed flawlessly where her wings would unfold from her back.

"Alice," She breathed her mouth agape, "I don't know what to say…Thank you, but you didn't have to."

"I know, I _didn't_ have to," Alice said, wrapping her arms around her girlfriend's neck, "but see I _wanted _to." She pulled Bella in close and kissed her deeply, ignoring the coat falling from Bella's fingertips; the siren's finger found their way into the vampire's hair.

"Thank you," Bella said pulling away, "It was nice of you." She gently caressed the vampire's cheek with her thumb. Alice's eyes had become as dark as coal. "You're going to need to eat soon aren't you?"

"Am I that obvious?" She asked pulling away, "You should go see Carlisle, I'll go hunt. His office is the third door on the left." Alice slipped out of Bella's arms, shooing her out of her room. Alice opened her window, and leapt out into the forest to hunt.

Bella heard the door close behind her and went searching for Carlisle's study. She found it, of course, right where Alice said it was, but there was always a nagging concern in her mind that she'd make a wrong turn and end up in a bowling alley. Did vampires bowl? Did it make a difference, the probably didn't have a bowling alley anyway. Why was she thinking of bowling at a time like this, oh that's right she was outrageously nervous about what Carlisle would tell her. Timidly she knocked a few times on the door.

The door opened and Carlisle stood there, ready to greet her, "Come on in Bella." He said moving away from the door. "I'm glad you agreed to meet on such short notice."

"It's no problem Dr…Carlisle." Bella said correcting herself as she stepped into the wood paneled office. The office was just as she figured it would be, Most of the three walls were lined with books, mostly medical but some seemed much older and by the faded and scratched out title, they didn't look like much like the other medical textbooks. The fourth wall was dominated by a large mahogany desk stacked with several charts, more books, as well as a very sleek and very modern computer.

"As I told you yesterday, I'd been doing some more research on sirens, but to be honest they're thought to be extinct. Clearly there's evidence to the contrary right here." He said, thumbing through a small stack of papers, "If you don't mind there are a couple of questions that I'd like to ask you, they're somewhat personal, but rest assured I've had my office completely sound proofed."

"Alright, it's fine by me." Bella said, remembering her failed trip to the doctor.

"Have you had odd sensations where it seems that your emotions shift for no apparent reason; most specifically when you make contact with someone, or when someone comes close to you?" Carlisle asked as if he were asking someone about flu symptoms.

"Umm, yeah; I think so. And I think it started, uh, sometime around Saturday or Sunday maybe." Bella said playing nervously again with her hands. "I mean I may have, I don't really know."

"Well if you do, it's actually a sign that your," Carlisle hesitated, "your powers, for lack of a better term, are increasing. It's a double edged sword, from what I understand, because as it increases you'll be able to not only feel and recognize it but you'll be able to control it and not let it control you." She watched him pick up a pen and strike a line in a blur of motion across the paper. "Have you sung around a man lately?"

"I have a terrible voice, I don't sing around anyone if I can help it."

"Well, I'd almost guarantee that your singing voice has improved immensely in the past few days. I'd advise against practicing though, especially around men. From what I understand they are by far the most susceptible to the Siren's Song, and it will enthrall them."

"Enthrall?"

"Bend them to your will. Essentially your song is mind control, but it's so subtle that most often they won't know what's going on."

"Is it permenant?"

"Yes and no. Yes in that once someone susceptible to the song here's it they'll never bring themselves to harm her. No in that if you sing to someone once you won't be able to order them around days or even hours later. In that respect it's temporary."

"Oh god," Bella said bringing her hand up to her face, "I did that to some jerk in the bookroom my first day here. I started humming and he suddenly became nicer. I thought it was weird but…oh god."

"Bella, don't worry about it, accidents happen, and no one is any worse for wear, just be careful without it. You have a very powerful gift, but it's just that: a gift." Carlisle looked through the shelf for a minute, before pulling out a large leather bound book. "Here, this might prove more useful to you than the one that Alice left for you at the clinic."

Bella thumbed through the book for a moment or two and thanked the doctor for all of his help; then she padded back to Alice's room to wait for her return.

* * *

**A/N: I know gold doesn't tarnish but I thought the visual there was really cool. If you feel so inclined, reviews are always appreciated. Oh and here's another shameless plug to go vote in my pool, please.**


	21. Hunger

Hunger

"Alice, could you please come in here for a moment," Carlisle said, opening the door to his office just enough to let sound travel out of it. It wasn't a question and it wasn't a request; even the subtle edge in his voice phrased it as a command. One that he'd earned the privilege of. In vampire society, just as in human society respect is given to the oldest; they're considered the wisest and most often are the strongest, or at least the best fighter. It is in every sense the natural order of things.

Alice picked herself up off of her bed, hearing every word as crisply and clearly as if he'd been standing right next to her. She went straight to the paneled office, in a slow deliberate pace; she'd known this conversation had been coming since she'd left to hunt. The irony of the situation was that even without the visions that she'd come to rely upon she'd managed to become a rather perceptive person – or well a vampire. She knocked quickly on the door as a formality; after all Carlisle did just request her presence.

"What do you need Carlisle?" Alice asked, hoping that her earlier indiscretion had been erased from her father's mind. Of course it hadn't; that was one of the problems with having a perfect memory, nothing was ever truly dropped when it was an errant thought away from perfect recall. She'd always known there had been a problem when she was around Bella; the beast in her always wanted to blossom out and destroy the unsuspecting siren.

"I think you know what I want to talk about. I saw how close you were." Carlisle said, leaning back in the antique wing backed chair.

The younger vampire clenched her teeth, she'd know perfectly well how close she'd come, and she also knew that it wasn't the first time, nor was it even the worse. But it hurt just the same; coming so close to killing the person she'd do anything to protect. It made her want to run and hide in a hole until she was magically made better, but she feared her absence for that length of time would cause more pain than it would protect her from. "So do I."

"Alice, I haven't said one cross word about your relationship with Bella. I know that it's something that I'd never understand no matter how carefully you explained it to me." Carlisle said keeping his body language as causally neutral as he could, "But I do have to say I'm concerned, you've had to hunt a lot recently. More than I've ever seen you do, but that doesn't change the fact that you have to be careful."

"You don't think I know that?" Alice said in utter disbelief, "You don't think that I don't know just how close I've come to hurting her? You don't think that I know what could happen if I let myself slip for even a fraction of a second? So if you want to lecture me on how careful I have to be around her, please, save it. I've already given it to myself a hundred thousand times worse than you could." Though she tried to remain calm with every word that passed through her mouth she felt the anger seep into her voice. Carlisle didn't deserve any of it; he wasn't the villain in this story. Hell, the older she got she began to realize that there weren't really any villains in the world. "I'm sorry." She said after a few tense moments had passed.

"It's understandable. Again, I can't imagine what it is you're going through. It has to be hard, but I _do _know how to handle myself around blood. If you want, I could start to teach you, but the only real thing that you have on your side is time. In time, especially not feeding off of humans it becomes easier to manage the Hunger. Because it will never, ever go away; it will be there for as long as you are alive, but it will become something that you can ignore, like music playing in the background, or the sound of a dripping faucet."

"How much time does it take Carlisle, because I don't know how much I have. With Bella I mean, I didn't think sirens were immortal." Alice said, dropping her voice to that above the whisper; that thought had been nagging at her for a while knowing that she'd be forced to watch Bella die and be completely helpless to do anything about it.

"Well, technically they aren't immortal, or at least they aren't immortal in the same way we are. But they are not ageless in the same way that werewolves are either. From what fact I've been able to separate from the stacks of myths is simple. From the moment that a siren comes into her a power, she stops aging. At least in every definition I can think of for that word. The process of aging is turned upside down; it's used to make her look and feel young. Instead of it slowly breaking down the cartilage in her joints for example, the same process would help replace it." Carlisle spoke as if he were giving a lecture to a room full of medical students instead of one person.

"So, for all intents and purposes Bella's immortal though. She won't be dying in seventy or eighty years then?" Alice asked feeling as if she should be raising her hand to break the almost hypnotic rhythm that Carlisle spoke in.

"I believe so, but I should point out something else. That while she may be immortal in a broad sense of the word, she is nowhere near invincible; the same things that killed her a year ago, will still kill her today." The blonde vampire paused for a moment, letting the gravity of his words sink in. "But I may have to cross illnesses off that list, because I drew some blood when she went to the hospital. I've been running tests on it, infusing it with nasty viruses and bacteria, letting them incubate overnight and coming back the next day. When I do, there isn't a trace of the pathogen I introduced." He watched his daughter break her composure and let out a large sigh of relief; because being immortal doesn't help when cancer decides to rampage through your body.

"You've probably already thought of my next question, but should something happen to her; she gets shot for example. Could I turn her, into one of us?" Alice asked, the surety of her words left her as she spoke, in the same way the rage had come into her voice minutes before.

"I don't think so." He said, giving a simple and direct answer. Something that he doesn't often do; Alice thought from the moment she met him that he like the sound of his own words, and while he very often had poignant things to say, he often gave long winded answers without ever answering the question directly. "I think her blood would reject the venom in the same way that it rejects all the other pathogens that I've tested on it. Of course I think it should be tested, but I've never experimented on it that way, so there'd be no real way to test it."

"And the only way to do that would be to bite her right?"

"I think so." For the second time in as many minutes the patriarch answered a question directly and in under a sentence no less. "Now, since your well fed we could start trying to curb your Huger tonight. If you want that is."

"How would we do that?" She asked, unsure if she even wanted the answer to that question. Carlisle often had an interesting teaching method, that some would say bordered on torture.

He smiled wryly but said nothing as he opened mini-fridge and pulled out a long white container. The faintest smell of fresh blood trailed its way into Alice's nose. She took a deep breath, finding fresh venom pooling under tongue and in her cheeks; a growl rumbled from her chest and caught itself in her throat. Carefully Carlisle twisted the lid to the container that was only white with the frost that gathered on it, he reached into the thermos, his hand bare, and pulled out a small vial of blood. The plasma had already separated from the red blood. The blood moved sluggishly in the vial as he tipped it from side to side, letting the blood components mix again. "Lessen one," He said in an even tone, "Don't touch the vial." In one sharp motion he twisted the cap off the vial and set it down on the corner of the desk and stepped away.

After he'd opened the thermos the smell of blood had intensified in the room, pounding against every one of Alice's senses. For the first time she'd realized just how much of the smell skin masked, until she was face to face with the real thing. Her eyes stayed glued to the vial, her breathing quickened as she inhaled the outrageously intoxicating aroma. It looked so red, much more than she'd ever noticed before; everything the petite vampire did was an effort to keep her feet planted right where they were. Her hands clenched tightly; her teeth ground together; she would not, could not, and was not going to move.

She wanted to do it, she had to do it. _Bella,_ she reminded herself over and over again. If this was what she had to do to keep Bella safe it was what she would do. Once again the blood began to separate; Alice _heard_ the blood separate. It called to her, it called her name; she wanted to have it – she _had_ to have it. It took every ounce of her strength to tear her eyes away from the vial, and its contents; with the same strength she stopped the staccato breathing that kept her nose filled with that delicious smell.

A moment later, she lunged for the vial only to be stopped in mid flight by a rock hard arm. Carlisle met her with a haze of motions that resulted in her being brought to the ground and held there. "Alice," He shouted but she didn't hear him, "Alice, calm down. Close your eyes get a hold of yourself!" he commanded, not letting her move more than he could help

Her failing slowed, moments later she was still; her face was twisted in as she struggled to keep herself in check. Carlisle picked himself up off the ground, capping the vial and putting it back inside the thermos. By the time the container was back safely in the refrigerator the smell of blood and dissipated from the room. Taking with it all temptation for the small vampire; she picked herself off the ground, thoroughly embarrassed that she'd acted so feral. That was the reason she'd never hunt with anyone less than ten miles away. She hated that feeling, that overwhelming animalistic nature that was so deeply private.

"You did well, Alice."

~~**~~**~~**~~

The siren lay prone across her bed, notebook pushed to one side along with her graphing calculator and all other remnants of her disgusting math homework. In her hands now was the well loved (thoroughly trashed) copy of _Les Miserables_. She'd made it a habit of reading that book to kill the time; for one she found the story absolutely mesmerizing, but more importantly it was well over fifteen hundred pages, which gave her enough to think about to keep her mind off of Alice. A task that became more difficult as time passed. She found herself keeping Alice on her mind all the time, and not just in the background or the foreground. She found it everywhere, in every part of her conscious mind there was also Alice. It felt like love was quickly turning to obsession which scared her. That was the last thing she wanted. She tossed the paper back on top of her math book. She rolled onto her back reaching to her night stand, where the book Carlisle sat, catching the greenish glow of the cracked alarm clock. He'd bookmarked a couple of key sections. One about singing the other about flight.

Flight she'd seemed to have mastered alright, if she still worried that someone would recognize her. She thumbed to the part about the signing; because that's what little she'd known about them from the mythology book she'd been forced to read her freshman year.

_The song is the single most part of the siren's powers,_ it read,_ it doesn't have to be of a set tonal structure, nor does it have to be completely original. What it must be, above all, is heartfelt. If the siren means it then the song will work, if she does not; she could easily sing for hours while exhibiting only the most minor of control over her intended targets. _

_Another key note is that while control may vary between individual; a few things are almost a constant. First, once a target has been placed under the influence of the song he, and in rare cases she, will no longer be able to harm the siren directly. Over the centuries people who've wished to do them harm have found indirect ways of harming them. Secondly for the duration of the song, the will of the siren will be imparted, regardless of the intent behind it. At the very least they'll be compliant, at the moment they will treat the siren as some form of royalty. _

_Certain individuals, particularly females, will feel almost no effects of the song and are immune to even the most basic suggestions. These people are generally those closest to the siren, family members, and other loved ones. In other odd cases the effect will be greatly magnified…_

Bella stopped reading in mid sentence looking up at the window; she thought she'd heard a faint tapping sound. She glanced down again to the page trying to pick up where she'd left off, when she'd the tapping again. Wearily she got up, shuffling her feet along the cold wooden floors. When she reached her window, she noticed immediately that it had been latched. She peered through the curtains into the night around her; seeing nothing but her own reflection in the dark glass. The siren quickly unlatched the window and opened it as far as it would go. A cold blast of wind greeted her, forcing her away from the dark night.

She waited, five seconds, then ten, and by twenty she was almost positive that Alice wasn't the one tapping against her window. The siren shut it again, making sure not to latch it again, and turned her back to the window. Padding back to her bed, Bella sat down on the corner of her bed and rubbed her eyes momentarily. A trickle of cold air tickled its way across the back of her neck.

"You know you should keep your window locked. You never know what might show up." Alice purred into her ear. Once she'd been able to feed and talk with Carlisle, she felt much better about her first lesson, and couldn't wait to get back to Bella.

"No, but I have a pretty good idea," Bella replied turning to face the vampire who'd managed to sneak in her window, and climb onto the bed in the time it took her just to rub her eyes.

"You know Bella; there are a lot of things out there they go bump in the night." The vampire said, wrapping her arms around the siren's middle; her mouth still just inches away from the other's ear.

"Yes Alice, I think I do," Bella said, playing the same game that her girlfriend was, "Because if that book is correct, I'm one of those things that go bump in the night." She turned her head as far as it would go; flashing a wickedly mischievous smile once she caught a glimpse of the vampire's bright gold irises.

"Oh that's right you are," Alice said, bringing her head forward, and kissing the siren's soft lips, "Then what am I worrying about." She slowly pulled Bella back onto the bed keeping her arms wrapped around the other's waist. A shiver ran up and down the siren's spine and gooseflesh prickled up along her arms as the cold pressed against her skin. "Sorry I couldn't drive you home; it took longer to," she paused searching for the right word, "get something to eat."

"It's fine," Bella whispered, gently playing with Alice's hands, "You're here now." She leaned her head back against the vampire's shoulder laughing lightly, "Besides, I managed to make it most of seventeen years without you. A few minutes here or an hour there doesn't make a lot of difference in the long run."

Alice's lips curled back in a broad, toothy grin, "You are, of course, right. But I still feel bad for making you go home."

Bella slid gently out of Alice's arms, pushing her homework carelessly to the ground, and climbed to the head of the bed. She sat next to Alice, at the same level, a sign of equals; no dominant personalities battling for control, like so many things with Alice, it was just right. "I've been thinking tonight." She said looking straight ahead.

"Oh, that very rarely means anything good." Alice replied, meeting the siren's brown eyes out of the corner of hers. Somehow, without effort from either of them, their hands had found each other and twined their fingers together.

Bella laughed, surprising herself at the warm musicality in it that she'd never noticed before. "Nah, it's nothing bad this time. I was just thinking of your problem with me." She stopped for a moment, giving the petite vampire long enough to look over to her and arch her brow. "Your father gave me a book, it talked about my song in it. And well, I think that if I sing to you, you won't be able to hurt me."

"I suppose it wouldn't hurt to try it. How would we know if it works?"

"Well – hmm – I guess you just wouldn't be able to hurt me. Intentionally that is."

"I wouldn't intentionally hurt you to begin with." Alice said stroking the back of Bella's hand with her thumb, "That's not the problem; the problem is me hurting you when I don't mean it. I know you can't see it, but there's a part of me – one that feels like a big part sometimes – that I can't control. And sometimes, sometimes that part of me wants to hurt you."

"Is that the vampire in you?" She asked in a hushed whisper.

"No, I am the vampire, all of me. There isn't a part of me that's still truly human." Alice said, her tone much sharper than she intended. "I'm sorry, but you just wouldn't understand."

"Then help me to understand; you've helped me understand everything else, why not this?"

"Because you don't have a beast inside of you that you have to constantly fight for control over! Because you can go out into the world without having to worry that if you lose the fight, even for a moment, you can kill everyone around you. And worst of all if you do manage to slaughter everyone around you, you won't feel an ounce of remorse for it…you'll be absolutely thrilled by it!" Her voice had risen and held more anger in it than Bella had ever heard before. Alice unfolded her hand from the sirens and quietly got off the bed, "I think it's best if I'm not here tonight." The vampire didn't wait for a response; she threw herself out the window, and took off running before Bella's mind had time to process what had just happened.

When it finally made all of the connections it had to make; she couldn't stop the tears from falling from her eyes. She tried to blink them away, but it was no use; the siren settled to blot them with the sleeve of her shirt. She curled into a little and closed her eyes. The light was still on, but she couldn't find the will to turn it off.


	22. First Fight Part I

First Fight Part I

Bella hadn't slept well that night. She'd barely slept at all; she kept replaying the fight over and over again in her head, and just didn't understand why Alice had been so mad. Surely it wasn't that big of an issue that Alice couldn't even talk about it with her. But it was none the less, and made absolutely no sense to her. What was more Alice didn't even try to explain why the siren wouldn't understand, she just got upset and left. She kept going on and on about a beast inside of her; and while it made perfect sense and while she was on the cusp of understanding she realized something. Alice was right, she didn't have a beast inside of her trying to claw its way out. She was as she was.

Slowly she got up, trying to ready herself for school; she really needed to talk to her girlfriend, and apologize maybe. Not that she felt like she'd done anything wrong; but Alice wasn't likely to concede that point. Maybe she's out there feeling the same thing, the siren thought as she brushed her hair out. Dark circles had appeared during the night, giving her face a troubled look; her eyes, bloodshot from sobbing all night, gave her eyes the same half lidded expression most often characterized by stoners and pot heads. Groaning, she pulled away from her reflection; Bella didn't feel up to school, but at the same time she knew she had to go. The majority of her first month in Forks had been nothing but a whirl of mysteries and vague answers and as a result her schoolwork suffered.

Besides, school would take her mind off of Alice, even if it was fleeting at best. Because, she figured, there would be no real way to take her mind off her that enigmatic girl. She splashed some more water on her face in a vain attempt to make her look more presentable. It didn't really do much, but it made the siren feel slightly better about herself. Skipping breakfast, because she had no desire to eat, she went straight to her pickup and headed for school. The growl of her behemoth gave her a good distraction from her own thoughts; something that this morning she desperately needed.

Her truck rumbled into the parking lot crunching the loose gravel just as the first bell rang; she took the first parking spot she found and cut the engine. Giving a quick scan of the parking lot she noticed that a certain silver car was conspicuously absent from the parking lot, but in its stead was an even flashier red convertible. "Wonderful," she breathed as she climbed out of the cab, pulling her coat over her shoulders.

Hurrying into English, just as the tardy bell rang, she noticed that her regular teacher had been replaced by a slim balding man in his fifties who'd written his name on the board in harsh sweeping strokes that made his name look like it had been carved onto the chalk board by a killer in a bad slasher flick: _Mr. Lytle_, it read.

Bella took her seat before the substitute started to take roll; as she navigated the isle back to her seat she was greeted by a smiling Angela who looked at her, looked at the clock, and then tapped the face of her small watch with one finger shaking her head. Bella shrugged in response, returning the smile with a rather forced one.

"What's wrong?" The meek girl asked as she watched her friend toss her backpack to the floor and take her seat. "You two both look like you got up on the wrong side of the bed."

"Two?" Bella asked before she answered for roll. She readied herself for the mind numbing assignment that always comes around when a teacher is sick and a substitute is brought in to take their place. She pulled her notebook and a pen from her bag, and flipped to a blank leaf.

"Yeah," the mousey haired girl replied before her name was also called for roll, "You look like hell and Alice isn't her usual self, not that I've had many encounters to base this morning off of." She too went about getting ready for class; taking a tabbed binder, two pens, a highlighter and her textbook out. The siren thought she might just be showing off, but playing the model student card. "Besides, I haven't seen the two of you apart from each other this week." Bella stared at her, suddenly wondering if her friend wasn't turning into a stalker. Sensing the budding apprehension of the girl next to her Angela qualified, "Hey, I'm a reporter; I get paid to notice these things."

"Ah, right," Bella said with a smile, her mind distracted from last night's fight. The substitute started to read straight off the lesson plan to the class, and most of them immediately tuned out, waiting for the handout or the page numbers to read. All of them knew that collaboration in groups was allowed, and how notes were to be turned taken and where assignments were to be turned in.

"So what happened?" She asked quickly adding, "Only if you want to, of course." She flipped open her book to the Emerson piece they were supposed to read for the day and flipped open her notebook to the English section.

"No it's fine, but no I don't want to talk about it right now." Bella said flipping her own book open and uncapping her pen and chewing on it as she tried to focus on the reading in front of her. By this time a series of papers had trickled to the back where the two girls were sitting. In an almost uniform sigh, the class noticed that the paper if front of them included an assignment to be done at home and was due the next day; based of course on the latest passage by the master of the fortune cookie sayings: Ralph Waldo Emerson himself.

"This looks…fun" Her friend said reading over the assignment as quickly as she could. Fun wasn't even close to the right word, one thousand word paper due the next day comparing Emerson's views of education to the current theory of education.

"If by fun you mean a major pain in the ass, then yes, by all means it's fun." The siren said, neglecting to wipe the obvious sarcasm off her lips. Suddenly she took the pen from her mouth and actually started taking notes on the reading in front of her.

Angela giggled as she too began taking furious notes, "That's pretty much what I meant." She said in between shorthand scribbles on her note book paper.

"Hey you wanna come over and work on it afterschool." Bella asked after realizing that there was no real way she'd be able to do it without someone to discuss it with. The next thing to come out of Bella's mouth was a sheer accident, "Maybe talk about _it?_" She turned a bright shade of scarlet at the latest outburst.

"Sure, that sounds more bearable than doing it by myself." She replied, looking up a brief moment, before focusing back on the book in front of her, choosing to ignore the last outburst for a moment. The two sat in silence for a few minutes, both taking notes, and trying to figure out Emerson's views from the almost incomprehensible ramblings about reefing sails for the dull sailors, and other even more obscure messages. "And don't feel obligated to talk about _it_ unless you really want to."

"I do, I just…" The siren trailed off not wanting to finish the sentence with _I just don't know what to say_. True, Angela was a friend; but she couldn't exactly be specific in what was going on between the siren and the vampire. Starting a conversation with _so I'm a mythical being and so is my girlfriend,_ or, _we're fighting because I don't know what it's like to have an evil entity inside me that craves blood_ were both out; that really on left lying. Of course lying was dangerous because then she'd have to make sure to keep the story straight, because Angela certainly wasn't dumb and if the story varied too much she'd more than likely be able to see right through it. She shook her head, trying to clear it from the jumbled maze of thoughts that were in there. Refocusing on the book in front of her she realized just how little of it made real sense, most of it seemed to dance around simple issues and never provide foundations to them. The essay was going to turn into one major pain in the ass!

After a miniature eternity the bell finally rang, releasing her from her literature based prison. She hurried out of the room, not trying to get to her next class but because she feared that at any moment she'd get sucked back in like English were a black hole. "So do you want me to just follow you home?" Angela asked catching up to the siren just outside of class.

"Yeah, that sounds good to me." Bella responded bidding her friend a quick _see ya at lunch_ and walked towards her next class.

When the last bell finally tolled releasing the students to their homes; Bella felt no better about anything. To make matters worse she hadn't even caught a glimpse of her girlfriend; on some sick level she wanted to see if Alice was half as miserable as she was. Not that it would change anything, but it would make are feel a little bit better to know that she wasn't alone in suffering.

"Hey," Angela called as she made her way through the rush of students trying to leave for the day to Bella who stood on the curb to the parking lot, surveying the students before her as the left. "Ready?" she asked zipping up her coat.

"Yeah," The siren answered her voice flat and vacant; she still hoped to catch even the vampire moping as she trudged through the school. As the two walked to their cars a cold wind began to stir, cutting through to the bone and tossing their hair around.

"Still looking for her?"

"Yeah."

"Have you seen her?"

"Nope."

"Hoping she's just as miserable as you are?"

"Yup."

"Alright, I'll see you at your place," Angela said as she unlocked her, hoping that her friend would break out of this catatonic funk she seemed to be in. Parking closer to the school she sat in her car, immune from the cold wind that the news had predicted and watched as the siren continued towards her truck; starting her car she idled it closer to Bella's parking spot and waited.

Tossing her bag to the floor of the cap the siren climbed in and quickly started her truck, feeling it rumble to life. Shifting the hulk into gear she navigated it through the thinning crowd still left in the gravel parking lot. Her friend had stayed true to her word and followed her home and in short order they both pulled in front of Bella's unassuming two story house. Saying almost nothing they both went up to the siren's room and began digging out everything she needed for their English papers. "Any idea on what to do?" She asked pulling her own copy of Emerson off the bookshelf; it wasn't a book she'd ever looked at before or even remembered buying, but on the inside of the front cover there was a stamp from the same second had bookstore where she'd bought most of her other books.

"Not really, I mean this guy just seems to write like he's writing newspaper horror scopes. He says things outrageously vague enough to hint at what he's trying to get across." Angela said as she found a decent spot on the wall next to the desk and sat down with her back against the wall.

"I know, right?" Bella said, feeling more at east talking about school without pestering thoughts about vampires and sirens and werewolves and girlfriends, and idiotic fights. Nothing was in her mind but ideas about essays on idiotic philosophers making things up for their own twisted amusement.

"So what happened?" Angela finally asked, starting to scribble thoughts and prewriting on the back of the assignment page. Talking was one of the reasons that she'd been invited over in the first place.

Bella thought for a moment, unsure as to what exactly to say about Alice without sounding completely bonkers, "How much do you know about Alice's real family?"

"Nothing, I don't think. Well nothing aside from the rumors that have been spread around since they came to Forks." The mousy haired girl replied flipping almost constantly between her text, the assignment page the sub had given out, and her notebook.

"Okay, well you know that Alice isn't the actual daughter of either Dr. Cullen or his wife. She was adopted after her parents were killed in a car accident." It was terrifying how fluidly the lie was coming to her, "Well she was over last night and we were talking about family last night, and she told me that she was actually in the car when her parents were killed when she was only thirteen. I told her that I couldn't even imagine watching my parents get killed, but that I was sorry it happened and said it was a good thing she had family willing to adopt her. Alice told me that I was right in that I couldn't imagine what that would be like, that no one could. You'd have to have gone through it, she told me, to really understand. And every time I asked her to help me to understand it was like she'd shut off and the cycle would start again. Eventually she just left."

Angela stayed silent for a moment, unsure of how to respond. She took a breath and said "To me that seems like a random thing to get that upset over."

"That's what I thought, and it's why I pressed the issue." Bella said setting her book aside, Emerson and his supposed ideas education could wait. "Did I do anything wrong?"

"I dunno, if anything it sounds like you just hit a nerve."

"So how do I fix it?"

"Hell if I know, I don't really have a lot of experience in this area. Photography, yes; English, most times; relationships, not really." She replied with a light hearted laugh, "But let me ask you this: do you care about Alice?"

"More than anything."

"Dramatics aside, if you care about her, try talking to her. Maybe apologize for hitting a nerve you didn't know was there, and maybe promise not to go there in the future?"

"I guess that makes sense."

"But no matter what, you should talk to her, I'd suggest sooner than later too."

"I thought you said you didn't have experience with this stuff?"

"Hey," Angela said suddenly pretending to be defensive, "I may not have much firsthand experience, but I'm the stable one that everyone comes to for advice."

"Right."

**A/N: Sorry for the little delay, you see my friend convinced me to write for the Cullens Incarcerated Contest .net/u/2163960/Cullens_Incarcerated so that's what I've been up to. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this little chapter and it's sister chapter to follow very shortly. Please review.**


	23. First Fight Part II

First Fight Part II

Alice wasn't having much of a better day than counterpart; in fact she wouldn't have even gone to school if her siblings hadn't forced her. It truly wasn't like she was missing much, it was only the umpteenth time she'd repeated high school and she was beginning to grow tired of it. Normally it would provide an escape from, but with Bella somewhere in the school, and knowing that they had a class together after lunch it would be next to impossible for her to escape seeing her girlfriend. She tried to put on a façade for everyone, including her family, to see.

It didn't work.

She tried, but it didn't. The vampire found herself growing short with everyone; she couldn't even manage a friendly hello to anyone who dared to speak to her on a regular basis. The raven haired girl even found it hard to manage a civil tongue with her family, who easily deduced that she'd gotten into a fight. It wasn't that hard for any of the others, she'd come home much earlier than she had, and went straight to her room without so much as a hello to any of them.

Keeping from attracting any unwanted attention she moved from class to class, sitting there and tuning out whatever lecture was being offered; opting instead to stare out the window, and hope for a vision. Those little glimpses into the future that she could easily get lost in, they always had a way of pulling at every aspect of her mind, every sense, and every emotion. They were the one thing in her _life_ more all consuming than the siren. Thus, only they would give her respite from her thoughts. Of course for three months all she'd seen in any vision was the siren, so even if she had one, it wouldn't be welcome.

The fight played over and over in her head; it didn't really even seem like a fight. There was no actual yelling, no insults, no throwing things, not breaking things, no 'I hate you's,' nothing to truly indicate that a fight had occurred. It played more in her head like a bad disagreement, something that neither of them should feel bad for. But she wasn't thinking completely rationally; because she still hurt. Not being believed still hurt. Didn't Bella know that if she could have explained her hunger, (her thirst) she would? But how do you explain something like that? Can you? It would be like trying to explain the beauty of a sunset to a man who was blind; or trying to convey the emotions that a symphony could bring out to a woman who was deaf; but it wasn't even that simple, because those two things are good, pure, and beautiful. The beast wasn't any of those things it was evil, tainted, and ugly; the beast wasn't even inside of her.

She was the beast.

The beast was her.

That fact couldn't be changed. No matter how hard she tried to act human, it was simply impossible for it to be anymore than an elaborate game of pretend. But the beast could still love; it could still feel the electric thrill when the siren was around her. Was it as simple as that though? Was the beast everything, no it couldn't be. Because something that evil, that disgusting couldn't love. Maybe it wasn't as black and white as she thought; maybe there was a balance somewhere in all the mess. Some part of her that is still essentially human, and some part of her that was the beast. A part of her ruled by logic and emotion, and a part of her ruled solely by her lust for blood. Even she didn't understand all of it and if she couldn't how was she supposed to explain in a satisfactorily way to Bella so she'd truly understand what it was like.

Besides, she was too stubborn to just come right out and admit that she was wrong. Because, the truth was: she wasn't wrong.

By the time fifth period came around Alice felt completely and irrevocably sick, for the first time in the better part of the century. Something that else that only the siren seemed to bring out of her. Hurrying into Chemistry before Bella could even show up she faked an illness, something not incredibly hard for her to do (after all she pretended to be human every day of her life.) The teacher dismissed her with a pass to see the nurse; and since school nurses didn't have the authority to really examine a student; it was almost a certainty that she'd get a pink slip and be able to go home early.

What truly made her sick about all of this was that she ran away from her problems without a second thought. Surely she could have gotten through a fifty-three minute period with rekindling the fight that they'd had the night before. But not enough time had passed; emotions were still too high, at least hers were, and a conversation would be nearly impossible to keep genial.

Keeping her pace to a gentle lope Alice headed for home watching as the hazy trees around her floated past. She arrived home, knowing she'd be the only one there, which was a good thing. She wanted some time alone, some time to think. Of course that was the last thing she really needed, she'd thought about it throughout the day and the previous night. Even if she didn't want to admit it what she needed was to talk. But she was stubborn, and didn't want to admit this obvious fact that she needed someone to confide in. She'd never really had that before in her unlife, maybe she did in her life, but her life was nothing but a distant memory locked away by time.

Once she'd gotten through the door she padded slowly up to her room, the familiar smell of the house comforted her a little. Locking to door behind her in a futile gesture of to feel alone she sank down onto her bed. Still irritated she tapped her foot against the floor with ever increasing force.

"You're going to break the floor." A voice said from a distant part of the house, the only room that was actually soundproofed was her father's office, the rest of the rooms provided precious little insulation from prying ears.

"What are you doing here?" the reply came in the same normal speaking voice.

"You know, I actually thought you would thank me."

"For what?"

"Well it seems that every time you need to talk I'm right here, but then of course you pretend that you don't want to talk until I get ready to walk away and then it becomes 'Rose you can't go, I do need to talk!' So let's just skip that little dance and you talk and…"

"You pretend to care?"

"Right, because it's incredibly easy for you to make me the bad guy when I tell you things you don't want to hear. Part of you knows that I'm right." She continued, her voice coming closer and closer until it was right outside the door, though she made no effort to come in. The locked door kept her out, symbolically if not physically. "Because it's easier for you to accept that I'm right sometimes if I'm just the frigid bitch."

"I really don't want to talk this time."

"Yes you do, if you didn't then you wouldn't have started tapping to signal anyone and everyone that you were upset. So once again we're playing this game, and I think it's the part where I give you one more chance to talk before I turn around and leave. So if you don't want to talk I guess I could just turn around and leave right now. I am feeling a bit peckish I suppose I could go find something to eat. But that would mean I'd go for a day or two, I suppose; leaving you all alone to stew in your misery for forty-eight hours. But hey, if you don't _want_ to talk I can take no for an answer."

God damn it, she was right. She was always right. She had to be always right. But the thought of avoiding everyone for another two days before she could talk to the only one she's spoken about anything with. Letting a clear growl escape from her chest she walked to the door in heavy steps and twisted the knob, letting the small push lock pop out. With the door unlock she paced back to the bed and sat down on the edge to bed just in time for the door to swing open.

Rosalie sauntered in with a smug look evident on her features, she'd won and winning to her was one of the most important things in the world. "So," She began as she took a seat on the rolling computer chair opposite the bed, "Is it safe for me to assume that this bad mood you've been in as of late is due to the siren?"

"Yes, and for the last time she does have a name and I would greatly appreciate it if you would call her by it."

"Fine, fine." Rosalie conceded, throwing Alice once again off guard; Rosalie rarely conceded anything, and when she actually did it was only after having a strenuous and draining argument, "Is if safe more me to assume that this bad you're in is due to _Bella_." The name sounded dangerously venomous rolling off her tongue.

"Yes, it's safe to assume that."

"Well I could say 'I told you so' but I think that's a bit childish given the situation." By now the smug look on the blonde's face had grown into a Cheshire Cat smile. Alice wasn't sure what that look meant, but she'd seen that look on the face of every predator just before they pounce on their victim. Or it could have been a poor attempt at humor by the other vampire, either way it didn't put her much at ease.

"Since I doubt you're going to leave until I answer you, we had a fight."

"A fight, really?"

"The sarcasm is noted and far from appreciated." Alice said resting her face in her hand. Yes, she wanted to talk, and she figured the person she'd turn to was her sister and now that her sister was in the room with her and being as sarcastic and demeaning as she was it had the opposite effect. Now all she wanted was to throw the blonde out of the room and go back to brooding. The blonde said nothing; she leaned back in the chair and crossed her arms over her chest. Alice couldn't stop herself from laughing as the smile diminished on her sister's face; the laugh came out harsh and clearly pained. "Thanks, that makes me feel so much better."

"As it should." The blonde gestured for her to continue sans needless interruptions.

"Like I said we, Bella and I, had a fight."

"That part I understood, so please continue with the details."

"You're enjoying this way too much Rosalie."

"Yes I am, but there are so few pleasures in my life as it is. I have to take fun and enjoyment where I can get them. I didn't think you wanted to talk about me, but if you want to, I'm all for it, but we'd have to start with my hair, and then maybe my skin." Rosalie smiled again, but this time it wasn't the wolfish smile of before; it was genuine, playful even; as if she'd sensed that what Alice really needed was a moment to laugh or to forget, even for a moment, about her problems.

"We're not talking about your hair, you came in here insisting that I talk about my relationship and that's what we're going to do. Besides my hair is better anyway." A slight grin crossed her lips lightening the mood just noticeably before she continued, "We had a fight last night, over something that I admit I'm a little sensitive about; she made light of what's in me."

"What's in you?"

"The hunger, the thirst, the beast. The part of me that wants to rip her throat out with my bare teeth and drink her dry."

Rosalie couldn't help by let out a short, almost unintentional laugh, "And that _beast_ is something different than you. It is you."

"No, it may be a part of me, but it is not me. I won't let it be; if it were all of me I wouldn't be capable of love. And yet I am. I wouldn't be capable of any kind of compassion, and again I am. It may be the biggest part of me, but it's only a part, it's not the whole."

"I suppose, but philosophical arguments of whom or what we are aside, what happened after that."

"Well, she brought up that there's a strong possibility that if she sings to me it would stop my ability to intentionally hurt her."

"So, she wants to try mind control."

"To put it bluntly: yes, she wants to try mind control."

"Are you going to let her?"

"No, of course not!"

"Why not?"

"Because!"

"That's not an answer."

Alice paused for a moment before answering again, everything seemed heavy again: the words, the mood, her thoughts. She didn't have a real answer, not one that made any kind of logical sense. "I don't know; it just seems wrong." The taller vampire didn't respond, she didn't even gesture for the other to go on, she just sat there motionlessly. "I want to be able to control myself around her, more than anything. I want to be able to drink in her scent without _wanting_ to bite into her throat. I have a feeling that if she sings to me and if it works, which it might not, it would just prevent me from hurting her. It wouldn't stop me from wanting to or even from thinking about it." A knot began to arise in her stomach as she talked. She took such a maelstrom of thoughts and feelings, and reduced them to a few sentences. All of a sudden the problems didn't seem all encompassing as they had before.

"Did you tell her any of that?"

"No."

"Why?"

"I hadn't been able to put it into words…" She trailed off casting her eyes to the floor. She didn't dare look up; she knew that as soon as she did Rosalie would be giving her the patented death glare. Because that wasn't the whole reason and both of them knew it. "And…I don't know if she'd understand."

"Don't know, or don't want to try?" Alice looked up at her sister, her face blank as she searched for the meaning in such simple words. Meaning that managed to elude her. "Alice, I know you well enough to know that if anyone could make someone understand it would be you." Alice's eyes went wide. Did Rosalie just pay her a compliment? Did Rosalie Lillian Hale just pay her a compliment? Was it possible for Rosalie Lillian Hale to pay someone a compliment? If Alice still had blood pumping through her veins she would have fainted on the spot. "Don't let it go to your head." Alice was still too stunned to speak as the blonde stood from the chair and walked out of her room, shutting the door behind her.

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**A/N: Just a friendly reminder to go to the Cullens Incarcerated profile page and vote for a contest which i may or may not be entered in. But it's safe to say that since I keep telling people about it that I probably am. Voting Ends the 15th so get out there and vote!!**


	24. Important Things

**A/N: Wow, I just realized that it's been one month since I last updated. Holy freakin' crap! I can't believe it's taken me so long. But I've had one terrible case of writer's block, so I'm back now. Or I should be, I can't believe it's been a month. So I hope that this chapter will satisfy all of you who've waited so patiently for me. If you were to forgive me and grant me a review it'd be much appreciated! I'm sure you don't care about what I'm saying; you're just waiting to see if Alice and Bella will make up. Well…what are you waiting for? Go to it!**

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Important things

Morning came, as it always does, earlier than anyone would like. It was another dull and bleak morning; the air seemed to hang in the air. A light mist fell, adding to the suffocating feeling of the forest. Alice didn't care, once she was moving through the trees the world seemed less confining. But compared to the world Bella was in, Alice may as well have been in a prison. While she could move fast enough to make the curtain of air part before her, but as hard as she tried she couldn't truly escape the claustrophobia that was nagging at her.

Bella on the other hand, had been up long before the sun; after her talk with Angela she felt invigorated and when her eyes snapped open just after four she knew that there was no way she'd be able to go back to sleep. She felt the same stirrings in her back that had, only recently, been foreign; now they were just as familiar to her as the need to stretch her legs after a long movie. Dressing in the new 'flight suit' that Alice had made for her, she opened the window, and let in the early morning chill. Unfurling her wings from their prison in her back, the siren launched herself from the window and easily took to the sky. The air felt suffocating at first until she was able to pull herself out of the low hanging fog.

She sped off toward the coast, hiding herself in the marine layer hovering just above the fog. Even for her and her wings, seeing the sun today seemed rather problematic. But over the month she'd been in Forks she'd grown to appreciate the constant rain and cloud cover, but that didn't mean that she never missed it. After a while, everything is wet and never really seems to dry out on its own. Those are the times where she still missed the constant Arizona sun. Although there she wouldn't have nearly as much cover to take to the sky there; she'd have to do it all at night. That wasn't nearly as appealing to her.

Alice started to head back home after the sun began to creep up over the horizon, it couldn't be seen through the heavy cover, but it still cast enough light to turn night into day. She walked in through the front door; her pants and shoes splattered with mud she'd been running in. Making it back up to her room without leaving a single footprint or a drop of mud anywhere in the house, she stripped and redressed. Knowing without certainty that she'd be able to see her girlfriend today brought a smile to her face. Her talk with her sister had been cathartic to say the least; Rosalie always managed to say exactly what needed to be said and no more. In another life she would have made a damn good psychiatrist; and Alice was always grateful to have her as a sister. Even when she didn't sugar coat it.

"Good run?" She asked, appearing on cue from her own room.

"Yeah, it was. Very – therapeutic, kinda put things into perspective for me." Alice responded, picking a brush off her vanity and running it through her hair.

"Yeah?"

"Mhmm, and I'm thinking I'm going to take your advice and try to tell her."

"I don't remember giving you any advice yesterday." The blonde replied with a wry smirk.

"Either way, I'm going to tell her, and make her understand."

"Good for you." She tuned and started down the hallway, "We're leaving in ten if you want a ride."

"Thanks, I'll be there." Alice replied before plopping down on her bed. She wasn't tired, that was all but impossible, but that didn't stop her from feeling exhausted.

The siren too was beginning to feel exhaustion creep up on her as she continued her aerial journey to the sea. Since her return to the Olympic Peninsula she hadn't had the pleasure of seeing the twisted grey ocean. Breaking through the cloud cover Bella descended, swooping down to the tops of the menacing white capped waves. As they broke upon one another she felt the sting of the cold salt water as it splashed against her. There was nothing else in her life that could even come close to the sheer joy that came with feeling the wind ruffling her hair, and not the smell of salt water as it wafted in to her nose.

As she saw the first rays of the sun break through the clouds, causing the thunderhead in front of her to turn a fear-inspiring shade of blue she knew she should begin heading home. In no time her father would be waking up and with his insight into her relationship with a certain impish vampire Bella knew that he'd notice she wasn't in the house. Pulling herself into a steep climb, the siren headed into the clouds and then to home. Feeling the moisture from the clouds bead off of her and flutter down to earth, the siren came back down to earth, easing herself gently through her open window.

Once inside her bedroom she collapsed onto her bed, sopping wet and panting. Her heart threatened to beat its way from her chest, but she couldn't care, nor could she stop a smile from breaking out on her lips. After calming her racing heart she stood from her bed, running a hand through her hair, she decided it was time to shower. Unless of course she wanted to smell like saltwater all day, which she didn't. She quickly discarded her flight clothes for what she'd worn to bed the previous night and crept into the bathroom as carefully as she could.

The shower was blissfully warm, even though she wasn't cold before, the water provided a nice change of sensation from the cold spray that still covered her. Taking her time washing, she waited patiently for her dad to start his own morning ritual before she turned off the shower and started back to her room. Back inside her room the exhaustion she felt on returning back to her room was replaced by a miraculous second wind. She now had more energy than she'd ever felt before. The energy was palpable as it flowed through her body, filling her with a sense of hyper reality. She heard the individual needles of every tree rustling in the still air; she watched as the individual particles that made up fog and the mist swirled around just past her window; she smelt how the light scent of the wildflowers mixed with the heavier of that in the earth below to create a scent unique to the forest.

Disoriented with this overload from his senses, Bella shut her eyes and shook her head, and as suddenly as that hyper reality had begun it ended just as quickly. It left her standing in the middle of her room, dripping wet, and wrapped only in a towel. Squeezing her eyes shut again, she tried to recapture that sensation, but as hard as she tried she failed. Disappointed she shut her window and quickly dressed; her energy didn't precisely fade, but she felt it diminish.

Time shouldn't have mattered to Alice, but today she could feel the second hand ticked by agonizingly slow. She felt completely incapable of sitting or standing still; not because her body felt the need to move, it had been cured of that long ago; but her mind was completely restless. All she could think of seeing her siren again. She didn't dare hazard a glance into the future; if it was bad she didn't want to think of it for the rest of the day. Then of course there was the self-fulfilling prophecy; if she did look for a vision and didn't like what she saw she'd actively try to fight against it, and by doing she would make the wrong decisions and thus fulfill what she'd seen.

No, it was best if she didn't try, at least not now. Maybe sometime later. Maybe.

She and her siblings had arrived to school early, but that really wasn't anything new for them. The stood around Emmett's oversized jeep talking about nothing. Her two siblings had sensed her nervous reluctance to even come today, but they weren't about to let her stay home and wallow in misery and doubt. Not when they could drag her to school to wallow in misery and doubt. But if she did it in school at least she'd have a little bit of company in her siblings. What that was truly worth was completely up for debate.

In the distance she could hear the seemingly familiar rumble of a pickup truck coming to life. Tensing up she looked around to see if anyone else noticed the sudden intrusion of noise. Only she noticed it, of course the humans around her would never notice such a noise over so far a distance, but even her siblings didn't seem to notice. Then again, they probably weren't listening for it, and even if they were could they really understand the significance of such a noise?

She tried to tune out the noise, but like the beating of the old man's heart it only grew louder with each passing second1, until it became so deafening the small vampire cupped her hands over her ears, in a vain attempt to keep the noise out. But it did nothing. The sound continued to grow louder and louder, and the louder it got the more isolated she felt. Until that isolation was broken; broken by a single, unblemished hand. Looking up, she finally dared to breathe a pitiful sigh of relief. Following the hand up, she found Rosalie; a twisted smile on her face.

A smile that reflected both the taller girl's admonishment of her sister's actions and empathy for what she was going through; it wasn't easy…for anyone. The blond locked eyes with her shorter companion and gave a short nod that said more than words ever could.

The anticipation didn't ease substantially but it did become more manageable; knowing that Rosalie was with her. Emmett was there too, but he was a smart enough man to recognize that this was a moment that he wasn't invited in on. It was his job to stand on the outside of this tender moment and crack jokes at the appropriate moments. Once one of those moments decided to come up; which in the past few days moments like that had been hard to find.

The oxidized red truck finally reached the school's parking lot, once again spraying a few loose pebbles behind the worn rear tires. The driver's nerves were as frayed as her vampiric girlfriend's, but she wasn't able to hide it as well, with her heart constantly pounding, her breathing coming into her lungs in shallow gasps, and her skin sweating so much that she had to pull the sleeves of her sweatshirt over her palms to grip her trucks steering wheel. Bella easily maneuvered the beast into a parking spot that wasn't too close or too far away from where the inhuman excellence of Alice and her family stood. The siren never dared to make eye contact with the girl who was clearly staring at her – that was the right thing to do wasn't it? Should she have looked? Was that was Alice had wanted? Maybe she'd made things worse by not looking at her. It was certainly a possibility.

Alice couldn't believe how brusquely her girlfriend drove past her, without as much as a glance. And her heartbeat, is it possible for a human heart to beat that fast without damaging itself. Why was it beating so fast? Was she nervous? Why was she nervous? Was she going to break up with the vampire? It would fit what just happened, but would she really break up with her over one fight, especially one that wasn't her fault to begin with. Damn it, she'd never even got a chance to apologize for what she said and Bella was going to break up with her. How was that supposed to be fair?

Sensing the growing anxiety in her raven haired sister, Rosalie gave her shoulder another 'everything will be alright' squeeze. With it Alice began to relax once again, not letting the worry get to her nearly as much. Of course that was easier said than done. Maybe this was why Bella's heart was beating so fast, she might have been feeling the exact same nervousness. Because really, neither of them could know what the other was thinking, or feeling, or hoping, or wanting. The relationship was still too new; there was no way that they would be able to anticipate each other. God, did she wish that her foresight would come back, just so she had a hint, just the slightest inkling would be a godsend. But of course, wishing didn't make it so. It just drew out the agony.

The siren turned the ignition off as slowly as she could, feeling the key clink as the truck shuddered into a peaceful slumber. Dragging the key out of the ignition she ventured a look into her review mirror and her breath stopped dead in her lungs. Alice was right there, just as scared as she was. She knew it, felt it. It took all the effort she could manage to pull her eyes off the mirror, but eventually she did and set them at once onto the door handle; as if it took all of her consciousness to perform even the simplest of tasks. Eventually her hand managed to manipulate the door handle and pushed it open; her right hand went back into the cab to grab her bag. Right as her fingers found the backpack her heel slipped on the lip of the cab sending her tumbling to the ground.

Bella hit the asphalt with an audible thump, her bag following behind her until it too left the cab and fell square on her head. Holding back the urge to cry she began to pick herself up off the parking lot, looking around, desperately hoping that no one had seen her just fall out of her truck for no real or visible reason. From under her hair, she looked to where Alice had been standing less than a minute before. Not there. Tears were already beginning to sting her eyes, she should have been there. Was the fight that bad that she couldn't even bother coming to her when she'd fallen on her ass? The siren stayed right where she was on the ground and couldn't help but crying, hoping no one would see her.

"Are you okay Miss Swan?" A soft, lyrical voice asked; there was a short shuffle of gravel under shoes and then a slight form appeared beside her; a slender arm wrapped around her waist. She pulled Bella against her and waited for her to respond.

"It depends." She responded using one hand to push her hair out of her face. She looked over and found Alice looking right back at her, nothing but concern and compassion in her eyes. Unable to help it she smiled and watched as Alice smiled right back.

"On what?"

"Whether or not you're still mad at me," She blushed a deeper shade of red.

Bringing her lips to the siren's ear she whispered, "I was never really mad at you; I was mad at me and took it out on you." She pulled back, her eyes focused more on the ground then on the siren, a quiet smile curled on to her lips.

"W-what do you mean?"

"I really shouldn't talk about it here," She paused for a moment before continuing with a slight tremor in her voice, "If it's alright with you I could come over after school, and maybe tell you."

Bella blinked once, then a second time, trying to make sense of what she'd just heard. Alice had just asked if she could come over; that had simply never happened before. Alice doesn't _ask_ to come over; Alice decides she's coming over and then proceeds to steam roll any opposition into submission. Something had changed in the few days they had been apart; that wasn't the issue, the issue was: was it a good change or a bad change. Right now it seemed too up in the air to call. After a moment's hesitation, Bella nodded with nothing more than a timid smile.

Alice smiled broadly; that nod had been the single most beautiful thing she'd seen in a long time. It didn't mean everything would be alright immediately but at least the door was open for talking; and the siren didn't have a problem letting the vampire into her house. "So, how about I go with you afterschool and then, depending on whether or not Charlie's there, I can either run home or have someone pick me up? If that works for you of course." The small vampire wasn't used to this new shy and exposed side of her; before she made sure that she was confident and poised. Of course she always had a trump card before; it's easy to act confident when you know something everyone else doesn't. But now, now everything didn't quite come as easily as it should.

"Y-yeah, that works for me." Bella replied, swearing to herself as her voice wavered again, the sheer nervousness tore into every one of her actions. Wait, maybe it wasn't her nerves she felt; after all she did have some innate ability to feel other people's emotions. So maybe the tension she felt came mainly from the vampire and not from her. That certainly made things easier, to know what her girlfriend was feeling…even if it wasn't exact. The nerves told her that Alice still cared a lot; not that she really needed some supernatural gift to tell her that. The mere fact that Alice had sat down right next to her, to let the siren save a little face and dignity said more than enough.

Effortlessly Alice stood from the blacktop, brushing the back of her pants as she did; once finished she turned to her side and offered a manicured to the siren who still struggled to get to her feet. Bella took it, once again feeling that icy tingle that had become so familiar to her; it was enough to send her heart racing once again, but this time for a good reason (a wonderful reason.) Her feelings hadn't changed, at that moment she was positive that _her _feelings hadn't changed.

When a relationship was new, every little thing held the potential to shatter it into a million pieces and scatter it to the four winds before either of them even had a chance to piece anything back together. Right now, it seemed, that crisis had been averted. The two walked silently toward the entrance of the school just as the first bell of the morning rang through the filling hallways. Alice walked her girlfriend to her class and bid her a silent goodbye before hurrying along to her own.

Bella stopped for a moment before pulling the door to her English class open, watching Alice walked away. Never once did it cease to amaze her how beautiful Alice was, and now she realized just how lucky she was.

"Everything back to normal?" A voice squeaked behind her.

"Huh?"

"Is everything back to normal with you and Alice?" Angela repeated as Bella turned around to face her.

"Oh, uh, too early to tell; I think." The siren replied realizing that she was blocking the door to three other people aside from Angela. With a sever blush of embarrassment she yanked open the door as hard as she could and dashed inside; the mousy haired girl followed in tow behind her.

"What do you mean it's too early to tell?" Angela asked as they both took their seats in the back of the classroom. The both began fishing out their essays waiting to turn them in; it looked like their teacher was still gone, and Mr. Lytle was still there.

"I mean, it's just too early to tell what's going to happen, but she's coming over after school today and we're going to talk." Bella excused herself for a moment to staple her essay together and dropped it off on her teacher's desk.

"How are you doing with all of this?"

Bella shrugged, "Glad that things aren't over; happy that Alice doesn't seem to still be mad; worried that things might still blow up in my face."

Angela was quiet for a moment, trying to find the best words to use; there weren't many that were completely appropriate at the moment. She opted to say nothing and merely nod as the sub started to drone on about how the Mrs. Hall had come down with a worse case of bronchitis than she'd thought and that she might be you the rest of the week. He then proceeded to give out today's assignment, which followed the theme of the class: reading, discussion, and writing. This time though they were poems and not essays. Not great fun, but not slit your wrist boring either. It also provided both girls plenty of time to talk about things other than the assignment.

"If I'm not prying too much, what did Alice say to you in the parking lot this morning? I wasn't spying, I promise but I passed by your truck to see if you were okay after you slipped out and she was whispering something to you." Angela finally asked, halfway through class.

"Oh, yeah that was kinda weird." Bella stalled, deciding whether or not to tell her friend the whole truth or to fabricate something _close_ to the truth, "She told me that it wasn't ever really mad at me." The truth won out, if only because it was easier and simpler to tell the truth, "she was upset with herself and took it out on me."

"Took it out on you? Please tell me you don't mean in like a Dr. Phil kind of way."

"No, like in an 'it's been bottled up my entire life and it had to come out some way' way;" Bella responded causing Angela to let out a spontaneous giggle. "I'm serious, no abuse involved, it was only fight."

"I know, you told me…like last night. I believe you I just love giving you a hard time sometimes."

"It's nice to know I'm so loved." Bella said dryly just as the bell rang; she gathered her things and headed for the door.

As was the usual routine Angela caught up with her just as the siren reached to door; "Hey, let me know how it goes today; you know, if you want to that is."

"Thanks, if things go terribly you'll be the first I tell, and if you don't hear from me tonight, just assume things went alright."

"Alright, either way, I'll see you tomorrow." She said with a big smile before walking through the misty haze to her next class.

More history and pre-cal followed the cathartic morning she'd had and by the time lunch rolled around her eyes threatened to bleed from the sheer boredom. Trudging into the cafeteria she gave the dimly lit room a cursory glance trying to find Alice in the bustling room around her. Bella started towards the middle of the room and the awaiting lunch line; occasionally taking to the tips of her toes in her vain attempt to find the vampire over the tops of her classmates' heads. With an exasperated sigh, she finally gave up and headed for the lunch line. She hadn't been standing in line more than a minute when she felt a cold finger gently, almost tentatively, tapped her shoulder.

The cold sent a little thrill down her spine as she spun around on her heels, expecting her pixie to be there with a glowing smile. She was sadly mistaken. Instead of her smiling girlfriend; she found her girlfriends scowling sister. "Hi," She squeaked and after clearing her throat she tried again, "Rosalie." The second word came out somewhat stronger, but not by much.

"Hello Bella," She started in an overly formal tone, "Something came up; Alice was forced to–" She paused for a moment, briefly scanning the room with her eyes, "–go home. She told me to tell you that it wasn't anything important and she'd meet you at you're truck right after school." The last word hadn't even had time to register in Bella's ear before Rosalie abruptly turned and strode out of her sight.

_Something came up,_ what was the something? Was it important? It had to have been important if Alice had to leave in the middle of the day. Wait, she didn't break their plans, so it really couldn't have been that important. Unless it was important but it was less important that…

"I said, that'll be five-fifty." The lunch lady repeated, snapping the young siren out of her thoughts.

"Oh, right" she replied fishing her money out of her back pocket. She hadn't even remembered putting anything on her tray; she paid and accepted her change before joining Angela and the others. Bella didn't bother saying anything at lunch, or the next three periods; she hadn't been able to think of anything else but those three words.

Alice obviously had something to do, that much was certain; but what? She'd ruled out all the regular things: doctor's appointment, dentist appointment, or sick. Bella didn't think Alice had much use for the first two and didn't think the third could happen to a vampire. Well, she could have gone hunting, after all that was what the fight was about. There probably were more and better explanations then the one's shed thought of; but if there were they didn't come to her. Worry: that's what came to her time and time again; Rosalie had provided no comfort to her, with her cold near callous manner and her emotionless voice. Or maybe it was just because she wasn't used to dealing with the taller vampire; perhaps it was a skill that came with time: reading her that was.

"Bella?" Jessica's tinny, almost whiney, voice broke through the wall of thoughts the siren had so aptly managed to create to nullify the world around her. "Did you hear what I just said?"

"Oh yeah, I'm with you, I'm there." Bella responded, clueless as to what was happening around her. If it proved to be important Angela would tell her later. As if on cue the lunch bell rang and a heard of students stood from tables, shrugged back into their coats or took up their umbrellas, and slowly went back out into the continuous early-November drizzle. Hanging back from the rest of her table, she shot a quick glance over to the slim brunette. "What was she talking about?"

"Oh, some _plan,_" the last word was emphasized with a set of quick air quotes from Angela, "to go to the beach on the reservation this weekend. I say plan because no one in their right mind is going to go. Just do what everyone else does when she gets on one of these kicks: play along with her and then back out at the last minute. She'll bitch and moan for about it for a little while but she gets over it. And there's a storm coming in Friday night, worse than the one that was around when you got here; so she'll end up thanking everyone in the end."

"Oh okay, see ya tomorrow I guess." Bella said as the two turned and walked towards opposite ends of the cafeteria.

"Yeah; and let me know if you need a shoulder to cry on and a big tub of ice cream if things don't go well. But I've got my fingers crossed" Angela called from across the length of the near empty cafeteria with a broad smile stuck to her face.

The rest of the day passed by well enough for Bella; though chemistry was particularly hard every time she glanced at the empty plastic-topped metal stool where Alice should have been sitting. That same anxiety came back, pulling at the pit of her stomach and heart alike. Half way through that period, she'd started counting back the minutes until school would end; it gave her something new to focus on until she saw Alice's, hopefully smiling, face standing by her truck as she walked out of her last class. That almost made her smile…almost.

There was no sense in worrying about it, but trying to calm her brain down with reason alone sure as hell wasn't doing anything for her. As the minutes ticked down she began to imagine herself walking to her car and finding that Alice wasn't there; worse than that there was no trace of her anywhere. No note under the wiper blade; no callous, but beautiful, messenger waiting; no message on the answering machine when she got home. She found herself paralyzed with worry when she finally was freed from school and now able to the parking lot, her truck, and hopefully Alice as well.

Keeping her face glued to the ground Bella began counting the steps as she made it to her truck; as she looked up she found no Alice. Her heart sank. She knew it. She'd known Alice wouldn't have been there; simple as that. Game over, roll credits. It had all been too easy anyway, it's fitting that it crashed down just like that. Holding back tears she quickly unlocked the driver door and blindly threw her bag onto the opposite end of the bench seat.

"Hey, watch where you're throwing things." A voice teased from the interior of the car, "You could put someone's eye out with this; not mine of course, but someone's!" Bella whipped her head up and looked for the source of that all too familiar and comforting voice. There she found Alice, buckled in and looking like the kid that sits in the car first thing in the morning waiting for her parents to finish packing the car for their trip to Disneyland. Sensing her girlfriend's growing worry Alice spoke again, "Hey, you better not have thought that I wasn't coming."

Bella felt her cheeks burst into flames and she tilted her head down, hoping to hide the furious blush from the ever observant girl to her right.

"Seriously Bella; I know I didn't tell you in person that I had things to get done before this afternoon but I did tell you. And I have kept my word as long as we've known each other right?"

The color in the poor siren's cheeks deepened as her head bobbed up and down.

"We've gotta work on this you freaking out the moment I'm not around." Alice's voice had a hard, and undeniable edge to it,

"I know, but the way Rosalie told me what was happening, I guess I just kinda freaked myself out. I mean she didn't give me any reason; she just said something came up and walked away."

"Yes, something came up. Yes, that something was and still is important. No, that something is not more important than you. Today, nothing is more important than you." Her voice softened as she undid her seat belt and slid herself closer to Bella. "I care a great deal for you Bella. More than you'll ever know even if I spend the next dozen decades trying to explain it to you. So if I make a promise to you, or give you my word I will keep it." Using both of her hands she gingerly grabbed one of the siren's and brought it to her lips, placing a feather light kiss on the back of her hand.

Now, even more embarrassed than before Bella lifted her head; her eyes meeting Alice's sparkling gold ones. She'd been partially right; Alice had gone hunting, her eyes were much brighter now then they had been this morning, but there was something else at play. If it were just hunting Alice would have just told her that, right? Slowly Bella nodded, earning a smile of approval from the spiky haired vampire. "You ready?"

Alice slid back to her side of the cab and fastened her seatbelt once again, "I thought you'd never ask."


	25. Together

**A/N: No I didn't abandon this story either, I've just been really busy and haven't had much chance to do much writing. So I decided to go on a writing retreat this week and it's worked so far, I wrote this entire chapter in a little over four hours of writing, I expected to put this one and a couple of others up when I got back home, but it turns out this place as WIFI, so you get to read it early. I'm sorry for taking four months to update this story, expect another update within the week from me, either on this or on Ministry of Lost Souls. I'll be working on that one next.**

Together

The engine of the old Chevy truck lumbered all the way back to the siren's home, as it had done nearly every day she'd lived in Washington, but this ride was filled with a little more tension then they normally were, she could feel the unease in Alice break against her like waves did upon the rocks that morning. Alice's unease, of course, feed Bella's in a big way; since she'd found out about her nearly empathic ability it seemed to come on stronger than it had before, but that could always be because she was growing stronger as a siren and nothing to do with a preternatural placebo effect.

Alice, while remaining silent nearly the entire ride, never once took her eyes off of Bella's profile, tracing over every minute detail in her mind: the arch of her eyebrow, her clumpy eyelashes, the curve of her nose, the fullness of her lips, the gentle angle of her cheek and jaw bones, her slender neck, lastly the swell of her breast. Reflexively she found her lips tugging up into a gentle smile. "I'm sorry," she said reaching over the vacant middle seat and placing her hand over the one Bella rested on the gear shift.

"What are you sorry for?" Bella asked, briefly taking her eyes off the road to face her girlfriend (before a pointed scowl from Alice forced her eyes back on the road).

"For snapping at you the other night, I shouldn't have done that; and for that I am sorry, please forgive me." The smaller girl said, gingerly stroking the back of the siren's hand.

A small giggle escaped the brunette's lips at Alice's formal language, "Of course I forgive you; and I'm sorry too; for pressing you, even after you asked me to stop, it wasn't right of me, please forgive me as well." Bella said poorly, but sincerely, imitating Alice.

Alice arched a brow, turning to face her, "Bella, Bella, Bella…you can't fake turn of the century language, sorry sweetie but you just weren't there. You don't have to try for me; I just want you to know that." Between the shifting of gears she gently picked up the siren's hand and kissed the back of it, "Of course I forgive you too." As she finished they pulled in front of the siren's house.

Bella quickly turned it off, feeling the engine shudder beneath her as it sputtered one last time before finally dying, "So, I was thinking…"she started.

"That never goes anywhere good," Alice said, playfully jabbing her in the ribs, gently of course.

"Hey!" Bella countered sending an ill though jab into the vampire's stony side, scowling (playfully) she grabbed her elbow and continued talking, "_Anyway_, I was thinking that we might want to go someplace more neutral…maybe that waterfall you took me too, the day we had our first real kiss."

"You know," Alice said dramatically tapping her chin, "That's not a bad idea at all, what about your dad though?"

"I'll just write him a note telling him that you and I went for a walk so we could talk; it's not an outright lie." Bella said opening the door to the pickup, before jumping out. Alice followed her out the driver door instead of opening hers.

The vampire pulled her into a tight hug, whispering: "Go get changed and I'll race you there," Into Bella's ear. She pulled away and went to sit on the front porch, tapping her foot against the bottom step to show her mock impatience with the slower girl.

Bella just laughed as she pulled her backpack from the truck, taking a moment to look Alice over the way she'd done on the ride home. She went to an art gallery once on a vacation in San Francisco, and there was a picture titled _Vu Jede_, the opposite of déjà vu, seeing something familiar but feeling like it's the first time; in that moment, where her eyes scanned over the shimmering black spikes of her hair, the elfin face, the delicate ears, the sharp jaw line, the delicate cheekbones, and tiny frame. It was in that moment where she felt like she was seeing Alice for the first time again, the way it should have happened, not in a freak accident in the town's one supermarket.

"Do I have something on my face?" The vampire asked in jest touching one cheek and then the other.

"No, of course not, just staring." Bella replied running up the double step of the porch and in to the house, smiling the entire way. Once inside the house she ran to the kitchen and scribbled a small note and stuck it to the fridge with some life insurance magnet; afterward she took the stairs two at a time (tripping twice but catching herself each time) and went to her room, hurrying to put on her flying leathers. Once she zipped up her jacket she snuggled into it inhaling Alice's scent deeply, before returning to the porch.

"Geeze, it took you long enough!" Alice scoffed as she stood up from the porch steps, admiring what a great job she'd done on making those for her Bella. Yes, her Bella, it has a nice ring to it, she decided.

"Well I'm ready now, so get over it." Bella teased back. "So…are you ready?"

"I was turned ready," The vampire said, making a joke out of something she wouldn't have joked about a week ago. "So are you going to count off, or do you want me to…never mind I will."

"On your mark!" Alice adopted a sprinters position, her fingertips gently touching the damp ground below.

"Get set!" Bella cut in, unfurling her wings in a now familiar motion, feeling the goose bumps creep up and down her spine.

Bella barely had a chance to crouch down herself before Alice shouted: "Go!"

At that word Alice took off into woods taking an early lead on the girl, who had to get air born before she could start toward the finish line. It took Bella three good flaps to get herself in the air and flying, the trees seemed to part for her as she barreled though the canopy of leaves, completely unconcerned of potential witnesses. The siren topped out at close to a thousand feet up in the air, at that altitude the air was thin enough that she could go a bit faster and use less energy than at ground level.

Alice looked back twice but by that time she couldn't see any shapes through the tree tops, but that didn't matter, she was hands down faster, and even if she had to cover uneven ground she was going to beat Bella, there was just no down about it. She broke a few branches that got in her way, and jumped over a few deadfalls. She looked up again when she first heard the roar of the waterfall, another minute, maybe two and she'd be able to gloat for quite a while.

After that first instant Bella lost complete sight of Alice and never found her again, of course flying took most of her concentration so even if she wanted to look it would have been a bad idea to do so, she just had to hope that the extra speed and not having to deal with any kind of terrain would be to her advantage. In the distance she could make out what looked like a cloud of mist billowing off the forest floor in what looked like a large clearing. Ha! She had the race in the bag, and for a change would be able to rub something in Alice's face. She aimed for the clearing and folded her wings and began a gradual descent, letting gravity work for her to increase her speed.

Alice broke into the clearing, coming to a complete and instant stop. She looked around and didn't see anything right away; then the back of her neck prickled; the vampire spun around and came face to face with a slightly winded Bella, her wings stretched on either side, looking exactly like an angel…wearing leather. "I win!"

"Nope, I was up there for easily five seconds before you showed up," Bella replied pointing her finger up in the air and twirling it in a circle once.

"Yeah, I was the first one in the clearing, you were the first one _over _it. So I win." Alice continued to gloat, showing her fierce competitive streak to Bella for the first time.

Bella gently patted the vampire's head, "Sure, keep telling yourself that." She said, strolling off toward a couple of large boulders, her wings shaking gently behind her as she went. Taking a seat on the tallest one, the siren let the mist wash over and cool her. As Alice came over to her, she couldn't help the smile that spread across her lips; they'd apologized and were still together, and were able to have fun with each other. Everything else right now seemed, Bella searched her mind for the right word, trivial.

Alice jumped up next to her, immediately resting her head on the taller girl's shoulder; smiling as Bella's downy wing wrapped snuggly around her shoulders. "So, I suppose this is the time where we actually talk." Alice said staring at the waterfall.

"Yeah, I think we do." Bella said looking at Alice's eyes, waiting for her to make eye contact before she said anything more. When Alice pried her eyes away from the rushing water and stared into Bella's brown ones, Bella continued, "I was kinda thinking that we've moved kinda fast; I mean we haven't been together all that long and you're already spending the night…and I know we haven't done _that_, but it still seems kinda, sorta fast. Sorry, I'm babbling."

"Don't worry about babbling," Alice said kissing her cheek softly, "I think it's really cute. But you're right, and I think that's because I've known you, more or less, three months longer than you've known me. I don't mean that to sound some sort of stalker, it's just the way it was, all I could ever see was you, and I'm not complaining or bragging; I'm just stating a fact. I guess I just got over excited have you around here so that I could talk to you, and cuddle with you, and kiss you – especially the last one. I got carried away, and I'm sorry for that too." She looked away from Bella, and blinked away a few tears before the siren could see them in her eyes.

"Alice, I don't blame you, I mean: if I were in your position I'm sure I would have done the same thing. But it's not like I'm some unwilling party to all of this, I did invite you to stay over, and I did freak out when you weren't around. I actually don't know what my point was with that last one…" The siren trailed off after that, completely losing her train of thought.

"Eh, don't worry about it; I got your main point." Alice said, once again resting her head on Bella's shoulders, "So how do you want to go from here, I'm assuming my spending the night is out for a while."

"Yeah, that would be a good idea; I mean we do have plenty of time to do all of that in the future." Bella said, leaning her head on Alice's. "But otherwise, I'm not so sure."

"I hear that when two people in a relationship, not unlike our own, they will go to places together; such as restaurants, movie theaters, sunset walks along the beach. I believe they call them dates," Alice brought one hand out from under Bella's wing and put air quotes around 'date.' "The objective being to get to know one another better and to bring both parties closer." Alice finished in her very clinical voice, "So how about we try it and go on a real one?"

"If you're asking me out, the answer is yes." Bella said wrapping her arms around the vampire's waist.

"Great, than it's settled, I'll pick you up Friday night and we'll go out. How about dinner and a movie in Aberdeen?" Alice asked hugging the siren tightly.

"Why Aberdeen, everyone in school normally talks about going up to Port Angeles."

"Because Aberdeen is bigger and far more in it than Port Angeles does, not by much, but still. It would be kinda hard to go all the way to Seattle or Portland on a Friday night. Oh, hey, there's our second date." Alice practically squealed with excitement; bringing Bella to giggle at her girlfriends sheer excitement over something so mundane.

"Works for me!" Bella replied, before chewing on the inside of her lip wondering how exactly to broach the next topic, "So, uh, can I ask you a question?"

Alice arched an eyebrow, "Of course you can, and in case you were wondering, you just did, but feel free to ask another." Her voice was still lively and playful, despite noticing the unease in Bella's.

"I was just wondering what you were doing today. I can kinda tell that there was some hunting involved but, I dunno. It just seems like something else is up."

"Yeah, you're right, a few things came up, because I really did want to see you at school, just to let you know everything was okay. Remember how I told you that the only thing I've been able to get a vision of was you?" Bella nodded, cuing Alice to continue, "Well, that's over now; I had others today, a lot of them. It was like listening to all of your phone messages after having been on vacation for a week or two. It's happened a couple of times before; I can't really snap myself out of it. This time it lasted for a little over three hours; believe me it feels like three or four days. I saw a lot of things I had to talk to Carlisle about; that took up the rest of the day." Alice explained keeping her eyes focused on Bella the entire time, trying to read her face.

"So, what did you see?" The siren asked.

"A lot. Remember how I told you that my brother left the country as part of a foreign exchange program?" Bella once again nodded her assent to Alice's question, "Well that's only about half of the truth, the whole truth is that he did leave the country but it wasn't for himself; he left because you showed up. Siren's are generally considered a threat to vampires, and he thought staying and helping you was too risky…so he went to Italy."

"Why Italy?"

"He didn't go to Italy precisely, he went to the Volturi. And before you ask, the Volturi are the closes thing to a leadership that we have; they take care of any major threats to our kind and enforce our laws and punish the guilty. Law, to be specific, and a simple one at that: basically don't get caught." A brief flash of worry crossed Alice's eyes. "He's trying to get them come over here and kill you."

Bella's heart started beating so hard she could hear it in her ears and feel it in her throat, "Then shouldn't we be doing something about it? Getting ready to fight, running away, or…something?"

"It's not time to panic yet Bella," Alice said putting a reassuring hand on Bella's knee, "Carlisle knows the leader of the Volturi, Aro, and has earned their respect over the years; he's going to talk to them today to try and talk them down, at least for a while. They normally act very slowly, after a few thousand years ten days or ten years begin to seem like the same thing. But with Edward there, they're moving a lot faster. Believe me Bella, we'll get enough warning to do something about it no matter what happens, I promise. If we have to we'll run, you and I, together."

Bella began to calm down; her breathing eased, her heartbeat slowed down to safer levels, and color returned to her cheeks. "A-alright," she swallowed, "if you say there's nothing to worry about I won't worry about it. Do you know when something might happen? I need to make sure Charlie's safe, and Angela, and well everyone else. I-I don't want anyone to get hurt because of me."

"No, not yet, but the moment I know something I'll make sure you know it too. Okay?" Alice's look was stern, but not without compassion, she needed to know that Bella knew everything was alright, at least for right now; though now she was kicking herself a little for starting out with the lighter stuff, not that there could have been a gentle segue or a way to focus the siren's attention on their relationship after telling her that there were people out there ready to kill her. She felt Bella's wings tighten around her, and shiver uncontrollably.

"O-o-okay, but then you promise to tell me when it is time to panic."

"Deal!" Alice said cheerfully, easing a few (very few) of the siren's growing concerns. "There's one last thing I wanted to talk about…well not talk so much as ask you."

"Y-yeah," Bella swallowed, "So long as it's not about anyone killing me; go ahead."

"Well it's the exact opposite of that, Bella." Alice paused, "I…I want you…to sing to me; I'm tired of worrying about the possibility of killing you. I wanted to do it myself, but with everything else happening I figured you could try, it would mean a lot to me. Now you have me rambling! So, will you do it?"

The words hit Bella like Mack truck; this was one of the things, if her memory served her, that they'd fought about. But Alice was right, circumstances where different now, and she'd have to adapt to them in any way she could. And to top it off, she wasn't completely unprepared for this, there'd been a song in the back of her mind meant just for Alice; "I'd love to Alice." She unwrapped her wings from the both of them and stood up; facing the vampire who still sat cross legged on the rock. She cleared her throat for a brief moment before starting in a voice so rich and pure, anyone around them would have thought that there had been a full orchestra backing her up.

_When I saw your face,_

_I felt the heavens sway_

_Now that we are together,_

_Separated by the light._

_What I feel with you_

_Wishes still do come true,_

_Since the dawn of time I've believed_

_I would find you._

Alice didn't even realize there were tears in her eyes until after Bella sat down and put her arms around her again, "That was the most beautiful thing I've ever heard in my life."

"Do you feel any different?"

"Not at all, but I know it worked. Will you sing it again for me, please?" Alice asked.

"Yes," And Bella did sing it again, and again, and once more, before both decided they should leave.


	26. Home Again

**A/N: Two updates in one week. I told you all I was back. I want to thank those of you who reviewed the last chapter and for all of you who've stuck with my story from the beginning. This one's for you all!**

Home Again

"So should we race back?" Alice asked after getting her fill of what she was now affectionately calling 'their song.'

"Why so I can win again or so you can delude yourself with thinking you actually won again?" Bella shot back, hopping down from the rock, using her wings to break her fall instead of using her legs to absorb the shock.

"Well if you're going to take that attitude, I don't even want to race with you anymore." Alice teased, crossing her arms in front of her chest. "Why don't you just race yourself back!" She continued, sticking her tongue out at the siren.

"I have a better idea if you want to hear it, or you can find your own way back." Bella teased back heading for the border of trees, not bothering to look back.

It took only a moment for the vampire to huff, leap off the rock, and run over to her, "Your proposition makes me curious." She said standing right in front of the siren.

"Are you good at holding on?" She asked.

"I'm not sure I like where this is going…"Alice said before wrapping her arms around Bella's neck, "But I'm always up for trying something new." Before she had time to process what was going on, Bella's wings spread out in front of her eyes and began a long almost stretch like motion that scattered a few loose leaves, "I take that back, I really like where this as going."

"I'm glad you do, because I've never carried someone before." Bella said wrapping her arms around the vampire's middle, flapping again. Alice didn't exactly weigh a lot, but she was still extra weight, but more specifically she was extra weight that the siren wasn't used to carrying. "You need to switch to low fat blood. If you keep gaining weight like this I won't be able to carry you." She teased, flapping again, and again, and again; each time harder than the last.

"I'm not fat, you're just too weak to carry me; so don't go blaming me for your inadequacies." Alice continued in the vein of teasing that had started long before the singing stopped. "Maybe I'll find another siren to fly me home, one that's prettier."

"Well make sure to get one that doesn't enslave people or vampires while you're at it, otherwise you'll be in trouble." Bella lashed back, through gritted teeth as she finally managed to lift both of them off the ground. Unlike her usual steep climb, Bella decided for a gradual climb, away from town. For one it was much, much easier on her than a near vertical ascent, and two, it gave Alice a little better ride.

Alice had flown in all sorts of airplanes, from early commercial planes, to a single engine, even a biplane once upon a time, and of course all forms of modern air travel: jumbo jets, a Concord, a Gulfstream, even a glider. But this, this was completely different, this wasn't flying (flying is what she did in a plane), this wasn't falling (that was what she did when she decided to try skydiving), this was soaring. "This is incredible!" She shouted into Bella's ear, the rushing of wind made it almost impossible to communicate unless her mouth was directly over the siren's ear.

"You haven't seen anything yet." Bella shouted back with a smile that Alice could hear evidence of in her voice. Had Alice a heart it would have been hammering against her rib cage so fast that it could have burst from her chest; but she didn't, so it wouldn't.

To her left the swirling white and grey marine layer loomed over everything, ready to engulf the entire peninsula for the evening; the siren banked hard into the cold mist, Alice screaming her approval the entire way. Once Bella hid herself from anyone looking up in the sky by staying in the high fog she started doing things she'd only done a few times. She started as gently as she could; pulling into a steep climb only to fold her wings and rolled over onto her back freefalling through the sky until she brought them back out just enough to control herself to do a back flip in mid air. She pulled up again, to make sure she stayed tucked into the marine layer before doing a series of barrel rolls; after she was sufficiently dizzy from those, she rose out of the clouds and beat her wings just to a hover over the ocean of clouds that always seemed to hang over Forks.

Once up at that altitude the wind generated by her massive white wings was quiet enough that they could actually speak without having to shout into one another's ears. "How was that for you?" Bella asked nearly out of breath.

"That was the most fun you can have with your pants on." Alice laughed in reply, "We're clearly going to have to do this more often, you know that right?"

"Oh, most definitely," Bella said nodding as she squeezed Alice tighter in her arms.

A wicked thought crossed Alice's mind, well not so much wicked as slightly dirty, "I wonder how hard it would be to join the mile high club like this…" She trailed off, smirking to herself.

"Well we are about a mile up right now, but I think it sounds like a better idea than it actually is. We wouldn't want me losing control and crashing us both would we?"

"Hmm…no I suppose that wouldn't be a good idea. At least not yet." Alice winked pressing her lips against Bella's in a passionate kiss.

Bella closed her eyes and kissed back, her tongue gently exploring the inside of Alice's mouth as her wings wrapped tightly around them both. With the siren's wings no longer flapping the two began to plummet as they continued to kiss, wrapped in a blanket of brilliant white feathers. Alice wrapped her hand into Bella's now soggy hair as she gently sucked on the siren's tongue before letting their tongues dance again. It was by far one of the ten most romantic kisses ever seen by man, and by far the most adventurous. A couple hundred feet off the ground the siren's wings snapped open and acted as a parachute; by the time the two of them crossed the tips of the trees they were falling as slowly as a feather until both of them finally touched down on terra firma.

"Okay," Bella said, now utterly out of breath, "That was the most fun you can have with your pants on." She released Alice from her arms, realizing just how stiff they'd become from holding her so tightly. Now that she was on the ground she decided it was probably a good idea to tuck her wings back into her back, and with the same effort it would take to put her hand in her pocket she did just that. The long vertical slits closed up without a seam; leaving her, for the first time that afternoon, freezing cold.

"I'm not going to disagree with that." The vampire said kissing her quickly one last time before she released her arms from around the siren's neck. She took Bella's hand in hers and began walking back the short distance to the house.

The walk back was nearly silent, but not anywhere near a strained silence of two people that didn't know what to say to each other; more like a silence that comes about when two people are so comfortable with each other that silence between them is filled with contentment; that kind of silence is in itself very rare. Neither was going to complain that they could get away with having such silence between them, and neither of them wanted to break it.

Soon they broke through the trees yet again and found themselves in Bella's front yard; parked next to the rusted red pickup was Charlie's battered police cruiser. Each gave a small sigh, realizing that they'd have to give up their content silence sooner than they would have liked. Grudgingly they started opened the front door, letting the rest of the world in. "Dad, we're back." Bella announced, crossing the threshold.

Charlie walked in from the kitchen, a small scowl stretched tightly across his face, "Did you girls have a nice time?" The banal question didn't attempt to mask the contempt he felt. The look was that of a parent who's getting ready to say 'I'm not angry, just disappointed.'

"Are you alright?" It didn't take someone with Bella's abilities in empathy to know something was seriously wrong with him but it was the first thing that came to her mind. Instinctively she gripped Alice's hand tighter and stared at her father waiting for him to say something. She'd never seen him quite like this before.

"No, I had to go and look for three missing hikers today, all of them older and more experienced than either of you two are. And then I come home to find this note." He waved it wildly in front of their face, "You didn't tell me where you were going, you didn't tell me when you left, and you didn't tell me when you were planning on getting back. I've been worried sick about you."

Bella started playing the typical child role: make excuses and lie, "Through the woods, dad we didn't go a half mile away from the house…"

"We're terribly sorry," Alice chimed in, using a much more diplomatic tone, "We didn't realize we would be gone as long as we were, the note was merely a precaution in case you got home a few minutes before we did. We didn't intend to be gone longer than an hour, but we lost track of time. I apologize."

The chief was taken aback slightly, hearing language he wasn't used to hearing from the average high school student; of course his typical interaction with high school students prior to Bella's arrival normally involved dealing with speeders, the occasional vandal, and the slightly regular drug possessor. And both Alice and Bella were _far_ from those usual suspects. But that still didn't stop him from closely scrutinizing both of them; their clothes were clean, their hair was clear of leaves, sticks, and other debris. It didn't seem they were up to anything that he, as a father, should be worried about. "Just…just be careful out there; please don't make me worry. It'll give me more grey hair than I already have." He turned around muttering some about men of his age, but none of it seemed directed at either of the women.

"Nice going." Bella said facing the vampire.

"Thanks," Alice said absently, "Something about that didn't seem right though. He seemed genuinely spooked about something."

"Yeah, he's not normally like that; not so much the confrontational type; I don't think he found those hikers alive." Bella said, not wanting to think of that possibility; she knew that she was put together better and stronger than any regular person on the planet; and Alice was nigh on invincible. Nothing would ever happen to them like that. But something might, the siren suddenly felt nauseas thinking of Alice's words earlier that day. Something might happen to her; and Charlie might never even know the truth. That single thought made her want to simultaneously throw her arms around her dad and throw up. She began to shiver uncontrollably, when she really just wanted to cry. Her love for her father had always been an intangible presence she

Alice lovingly wrapped her arms around the siren and pulled her in closely, reaching her hand up she gently cupped the back of the sobbing girl's neck (because by that time she'd broken down) and brought her head into the crook of the vampire's neck. "Shh…shh," Alice hushed, "Everything's going to be fine remember? By now Carlisle will have talked to Aro and everything will be fine. No one's going to hurt you remember?" She felt the siren nod gently into her neck, staining the collar of the vampire's shirt with tears.

Alice, Bella thought, was far too calm; maybe she'd had someone try to kill her before, but for the siren this was a very new experience that she now had to deal with. Maybe she was taking it a little too seriously, but when a person uses the word 'kill' in the same sentence as 'you,' the normal reaction is to freak out a little bit. Or, well, a lot in Bella's case. "How, how can you say that? How can you know?"

"Because I've seen it before, the Volturi are rulers. They have power, lots of it, and like anyone with power they want more of it. And when someone threatens their power they want to destroy that. All we need to do is make them think that you're not a threat to their power and they won't have a problem letting you live." Alice's voice took on a soothing, almost melodic quality as she explained with clear logic just exactly how she knew everything was going to turn out fine.

"And what if they don't see things our way?" Bella chocked out in between sobbing into Alice's shirt.

"Then we fight. We show them exactly why they hated sirens to begin with; we'll take them down several pegs and show them that they don't mess with _my _girlfriend." Bella couldn't help but laugh at Alice's determination.

Something about Alice always put Bella at ease, even when people, vampires rather, were trying to kill her; even if: "I don't know how to fight."

"You leave the fighting to my family and me. They're afraid of you, we are going to play into that fear, and you are going to strike at them and force them to leave you alone. All you need to worry about is singing your heart out, that's your weapon, and it is the most powerful one against a vampire. Here's why, we have the best hearing of anything in this world. Can you imagine being able to hear someone shouting from two and a half miles away as clearly as if they were standing right next to you. And your songs will carry much further than that; but the Volturi, they might not know that. I've been doing nothing but research since you came into my life. I found that on a clear day the song of a siren can travel ten miles across flat ground. That means they won't even be able to see you before they're under your spell. And when that happens; you can have them do anything you want."

Bella stopped crying, stunned by what Alice just said, "How much of that is true?"

"Every. Single. Word." Alice replied, looking Bella directly into the eyes. Of course Alice neglected to mention that the bulk of the vampires they would be facing had their ears torn off and cauterized closed before they were turned to negate the impact of the siren's song; but Bella didn't need to know that right now. Right now she needed assurances, she needed to have confidence going into the fight of her life, and that's what Alice was aiming to give her. "Right now I think I need to go home and talk to Carlisle. I'll call you later tonight okay?"

Bella swallowed hard and nodded. "Okay. I'll be here."

Alice squeezed her tightly once more and planted a loving cheek on the siren's lips, "I'll see you then. Tell Charlie goodbye for me."

"Will do," Bella said, managing a weak smile to go along with her words. She walked her girlfriend to the door and waved as Alice disappeared in a blur through the forest. Her smile stronger she went to find Charlie, watching ESPN in the living room.

"Everything alright in there kiddo?" Charlie asked when Bella came into the room and sat next to him on the small couch.

"Yeah, couldn't be better." She leaned her head against her dad's shoulder and shut her eyes.

"Is everything alright with Alice?" He asked uneasily.

"Yeah, she told me to tell you good bye for her." Bella said as her father wrapped his arm around her shoulder.

"I'm not used to you watching TV with me; that's all." He said, turning the volume down so he didn't feel like he had to shout.

"I know, I just felt like spending some time with my dad."

**Random Fact: I don't know about a siren's song, but I do know that a human voice will travel up to ten miles over open ocean. See you all learned something today. Please review if you would be so kind.**


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